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Film Review: Midnight In Paris (2011)
Copyright 2016 Christina M. Guerrero
DEDICATION
This is for Paris and Woody Allen.
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STORY BEHIND THE STORY
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ABOUT THE DRAFTS
Finally: it looks more like a review than a summary.
A writer’s love for his favorite city inspires him to make some important decisions.
To enjoy Midnight In Paris from an American point of view, one must consider how some Americans become familiar with the capital of France.
One Path Toward Familiarity With Paris
The first thing, or rather cliché, that some Americans learn about Paris, usually in grade school, is that the city is full of stuck-up, upper-class, well-dressed citizens.
The second thing that comes to mind is: Really? Is that true? If the people are so stuck-up, how do they conduct business? How do they receive care at hospitals? How do they learn at school? Are the people really that anti-social?
Curiosity changes to mild interest. If the place is full of people who don’t want to communicate, how did the city expand? How were buildings designed and completed? How did the Eiffel Tower get built? How is it possible that the food is considered the best in the world, if the people are so uncommunicative? Don’t chefs and line cooks and apprentices have to talk to each other in order to produce a great meal?
The curious American then becomes familiar with a variety of names, dates, historical events, and architectural styles: De Gaulle, 1789, The French Revolution; Haussman, avant-garde; Josephine Baker; croissants; patisseries; arrondissements; Champs Elysées.
And then, somewhere in there, the American finds a photo or series of photos, or a coffee-table book about the city, and realizes he or she has been captured by the unknown, perhaps from the beginning. Photographers since the invention of the camera have rarely taken poor shots of the city. Paris comes to life in photos: buildings are elaborate and clean; some streets are wide and intimidating; some streets are quaint, detailed and tiny; Notre-Dame de Paris stands imperiously on the Île De La Cité; the Eiffel tower is proud and tall; pastry shops are full of impeccably-made treats; businesses display their tangible goods in an almost painfully immaculate way. Historical photos reveal the lush, voluptuous past of the Belle Époque; the treats of the expat-populated Paris of the 1920s; the development of those stout, ubiquitous Haussmann buildings.
And the people in the photos: not all of them look unapproachable. Some are wearing jeans, albeit clean and pressed. Teenagers are surly, the world over. There are homeless people; people with umbrellas; people taking the subway; basically, people doing people things, only in Paris.
To some Americans, something about the city becomes irresistible. Maybe it’s the lure of those allegedly snooty Parisians and the implied challenge of getting to know them. It might be the architecture: the buildings and structures range from the tall extended triangle of the Eiffel Tower to the huge U-shaped Louvre, to the inside-out Centre Pompidou museum.
To writers and history lovers, it may be the lure of the past, from the Gallic settlers, to the Franks, to Charlemagne, to the royalty-ridden era, to the artistic years of the angst-filled painters, writers, dancers, sculptors, journalists and their friends and lovers.
A Writer’s Adventures In His Favorite City
To American writer Gil Pender in Midnight in Paris, it is all of these things. He arrives with his fiancée, Inez, and is looking forward to everything the city has to offer, but Inez shares only a little bit of his feelings. She wants to explore the area with her college friends.
Feeling disappointed and irritated, Gil decides to wander the city by himself but eventually gets lost and can't find his hotel. As he tries to figure out what to do, a clock strikes midnight.
Then, up the narrow, winding, inclined road where Gill is fretting, comes a suspiciously old-fashioned car. Inside are several friendly, tipsy people who have a friendly, tipsy conversation with Gil, who joins them. He is understandably freaked out when he discovers he has somehow connected with Paris in the 1920s.
The rest of the film will be a delight to anyone fascinated with Paris. Writer/Director Woody Allen features intriguing aspects of the city’s past that tickle the mind: Josephine Baker dancing playfully in a club; Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald partying with Cole Porter; the manly, imposing Ernest Hemingway declaring loyalty to his friend Gertrude Stein; and a beautiful, luxurious segment about the Belle Époque era.
Gil’s journey is not just to the past, but also through his growth as a writer. By chatting with Hemingway, Stein and Adriana (a young mistress of Pablo Picasso), Gil receives feedback on his current manuscript and how to be a better writer in general. His conversations with Hemingway are amusing: Gil is a self-effacing, mildly assertive Bambi standing up to Hemingway, a friendly yet direct and forceful Godzilla.
What Woody Allen Should Have Done
Film writers, directors and editors must decide how much to keep in the final product, and how much to trim. Whatever Woody Allen and his team started with, when deciding how far back to go in Paris’s past, they stopped at the court of Versailles with a funny anachronism. Allen could have expanded upon this, comically and very well, with his elegant wit and prose, perhaps with a montage hitting on more highlights of the city’s history. Also, in ninety-four minutes, the developments between Gil and some of his new acquaintances seemed just a little bit rushed; a few more minutes devoted to his friends (and possibly more than friends) would have added depth.
The Stars Shine
Those who ache for Paris will connect with Gil and his story. Midnight In Paris features a rather frazzled Owen Wilson as Gil; airy and pretty Rachel McAdams as Inez; a luminous Marion Cotillard as Adriana; a few perfectly-cast unknowns for some of the historical figures (unfamiliar faces, yet memorable enough to entertain), and the principal star: Paris ... in the sunshine, in the rain, in the present, in the past, saucily changing from shot to shot in time to the music in the opening scenes, and possibly as sad to see us go at the end, as we are.
Sources:
Midnight In Paris. Dir. Woody Allen. Perf. Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kurt Fuller, Mimi Kennedy, Michael Sheen. Gravier Productions, 2011. Running Time: 94 min.
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