Paris, Je T'aime (2007) Movie Information:

Paris, Je T'aime (2007) Directed by: Olivier Assayas, Frédéric Auburtin & Gérard Depardieu, Christoffer Boe, Gurinder Chadha, Sylvain Chomet, The Coen brothers, Isabel Coixet, Wes Craven, Alfonso Cuaron, Christopher Doyle, Richard LaGravenese, Raphaël Nadjari, Vincenzo Natali, Alexander Payne, Bruno Podalydès, Walter Salles & Daniela Thomas, Oliver Schmitz, Nobuhiro Suwa, Tom Tykwer, Gus Van Sant Paris, Je T'aime (2007) Written by: Tristan Carné, Emmanuel Benbihy, Frédéric Auburtin, Jean-Pierre Ronssin Paris, Je T'aime (2007) Cast: Fanny Ardant, Julie Bataille, Leïla Bekhti, Melchior Beslon, Juliette Binoche, Seydou Boro, Steve Buscemi, Eric Caravaca, Sergio Castellitto, Willem Dafoe, Gérard Depardieu, Julie Depardieu, Cyril Descours, Lionel Dray, Jean-Michel Fête, Marianne Faithfull, Ben Gazzara, Hippolyte Girardot, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Bob Hoskins, Camille Japy, Axel Kiener, Olga Kurylenko, Li Xin, Elias Mc Connell, Aissa Maïga, Margo Martindale, Yolande Moreau, Emily Mortimer, Florence Muller, Nick Nolte, Emilie Ohana, Alexander Payne, Bruno Podalydès, Natalie Portman, Eric Poulain, Paul Putner, Miranda Richardson, Gena Rowlands, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Ludivine Sagnier, Barbet Schroeder, Rufus Sewell, Gaspar Ulliel, Leonor Watling, Elijah Wood, Jonathan Zaccaï

Paris, Je T'aime (2007) U.S. Distributor: First Look Pictures Paris, Je T'aime (2007) U.K. Distributor: The Works

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Paris, Je T'aime (2007) Synopsis:

Twenty directors are given five minutes of screen time to show their love and appreciation for the most amazing city in the world, Paris.

Paris, Je T'aime (2007) Movie Review:

Coens, Cuarons, and Cravens, oh my. Translated as “I Love Paris,” "Paris, je t'aime" brings the glorious tradition of the anthology filmmaking back with an art-house vengeance. Besides representing a big, bright love letter to the city of light, "Paris, je t'aime" is also love letter to the lights, camera, and action of filmmakers who work side-by-side with an artistic oneness in mind. As each filmmaker adds their contribution to this elegant mosaic that praises both love and Paris in the same breath (and title), I realized that this is the kind of film that "Love Actually" should have been and "Amelie" was trying to be. Awkward sounding sentences be damned, I love "I Love Paris."

"Paris, je t'aime" consists of 18 short films shot by 21 esteemed filmmakers. The Paris of this film doesn’t simply belong to French filmmakers but to an international set of voices that all add a unique perspective. Obviously, there are discrepancies between the films but the artistic variations and imperfections running from story to story imbue the film with an unpredictable energy. After starting slow and ponderous with a segment about a man looking for a parking space and even more out-there with a preachy segment about forbidden Parisian/Muslim love, the film finds its groove and, from here, each eclectic section organically flows into the next—a nice touch is that it’s often hard to tell when one story ends and another begins.

My favorite section of "Paris, je t'aime" is directed by the Coen Brothers and stars a silent Steve Buscemi as a tourist in a subway reading a French travel book. Just as he flips through a section advising tourists never to make eye contact with “the locals” he looks up and locks eyes with a thug making sexy time with his girlfriend. To make a short story shorter, as Buscemi gets his ass handed to him, the filmmakers cut to a shot of a Mona Lisa postcard as she watches with pleasure and mockery—this downfall beautifully encapsulates American stupidity, the enigma that is France and, most clearly, the French.

Other noteworthy sections include Gus van Sant’s story about a Frenchmen (Gaspard Ulliel from Hannibal Rising) who finds his soulmate and hits on him, unaware of a language divide; Walter Salles tells the story of a babysitter leaving her own child to attend to a rich child; Spanish filmmaker Isabel Coixed’s story depicts a man with plans to leave his wife but in a Seinfeldian twist finds out at the same moment that she has leukemia and, from then on, learns that “by acting like a man in love he became a man in love again”; director Nobuhiro Suwa asks Juliette Binoche to put her best "Blue" face on as she plays a grieving mother who, in desperation, runs into the street one night to find…Willem Dafoe as a cowboy???; from a crying on the outside mother to crying on the inside clown, "The Illusionest’s" Sylvain Chomet directs a delightful domestic fable played out by a family of mimes; hot off of "Children of Men," Alfonzo Cuaron’s section follows a scraggily Nick Nolte as he walks down the street (in one uninterrupted shot, of course) and bickers with a beautiful woman ("Swimming Pool’s" Ludivine Sagnier) who is, we are made to think, young enough to be his daughter; Olivier Assayas’ segment about a restless actress played by Maggie Gyllenhal trying to score some pills from a dealer she’s fallen for reeks of "Irma Vep" (in a good way); as for the other Olivier, Olivier Schmitz, his moving story is about a wounded man who finally catches up with the woman of his dreams, a paramedic; and while I’m on the subject of reunions, it’s good to see Richard LaGravenese back in the writing/directing saddle with his story about a man (Bob Hoskins) who role-plays with his partner in a seedy brothel; my second favorite segment of the piece is directed by Vincenzo Natali ("Cube") and stars Elijah Wood in a highly theatrical and strangely romantic vampire story where two lovers feed off each other in a parasitic ecstasy; the vampire section is ironically followed by Wes Craven (who cameoed in the previous section) with a story set in a graveyard that is not horror but, rather, an ode to Oscar Wilde (played by Alexander Payne in another director cameo) and the benefits of cultivating a sense of humor amidst the horrors of life; "Run Lola Run’s" Tom Tykwer directs a virtuoso section where Natalie Portman falls in love with a blind Frenchman and proceeds to take a hyperdrive, "Rules of Attraction"-esq tour through the reminder of the couple’s relationship (this is easily Tykwer’s only good film to date!); the penultimate story, a warm but tedious Gérard Depardieu directed segment, reunites Gena Rolands and Ben Gaazara as an estranged husband and wife who meet in a Paris café; on an all too appropriate note the film ends with a deeply humane counterpart to "About Schmidt" where Alexander Payne tells a story (in a way only Payne could) about an isolated middle-aged tourist who stands out with her vulgar American pronunciations and tourist-y fanny pack only to one day be hit with a grand sense of the interconnectedness of the world.

While the lengthy description above doesn't even cover all of the sections, the purpose of joining these subplots in a giant block is to give the reader and potential viewer an impression of the staggering diversity at play. Sure, big timers like the Coen Brothers set the world on fire with their dazzling "Looney Tunes" bravado but the film's hidden treasure is that the more arty, lesser known (to Americans) directors are equally effective in communicating their passions for the city. And after blazing through all 18 short stories the film goes one extra step in its coda when a number of characters from different shorts are joined together in a final musical montage farewell. By this point a synthesis has taken place in which form has followed function, giving off the distinct impression that these multiple stories exist to celebrate the hodgepodge that is modern France.

On a final note, it’s difficult to assign a grade that covers such a multifaceted title. I had enough trouble grading the bifurcated "Grindhouse" so adding sixteen more to that number doesn’t make the task any easier. As with "Grindhouse" the goal, then, must shift to assess the work as a whole, with a simple question being: does the experiment achieve what it sets out to do? As "Paris, je t'aime" is thematically tied by flourishing themes of yearning, loneliness, and love (for one’s city as well as for others), the answer amounts to a resounding yes.

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Paris, Je T'aime (2007) review written by: Greg Douglass