Midnight In Paris

Paris. 2010. A man, Gil, wanders the streets aimlessly. He is lost and slightly drunk, but fully relaxed and untroubled. He loves Paris at night. He stops on the corner of a street. A nearby church chimes midnight and a car is heard approaching. The man turns to see an old, vintage Landaulet 184 round the corner and drive towards him. It stops. A beat. The door opens and a man, dressed superbly in a fine jacket with a glass of some expensive champagne beckons to him to get in the car. He speaks in French and Gil doesn't understand. The man in the car insists and Gil yields, climbing somewhat awkwardly into the car. We see the car pull away slowly, down the street and into the magical night of Paris.

And so could read the screenplay for Woody Allen's latest film Midnight in Paris. It describes itself as a comedy/romance/fantasy and follows a young American couple on holiday in Paris. Gil (Owen Wilson) is a successful Hollywood writer and is trying to finish his first novel. When his fiancée Inez (the enchanting Rachel McAdams) goes dancing with friends one evening, Gil takes to walking around the city at night and falls in love with it. But in doing so, he discovers something strange and magical which makes him fall even more for the city but which wrenches him further from his future wife. First off, the Paris portrayed in the film is so American that you could pick it up, drop it in Florida and fool the locals that it was a new theme park. This is not to say that Allen hasn't attempted to capture the beauty of Paris (the opening shots did this very well) but this is eclipsed by the focus on the clichés of Paris which adorn so many a postcard. Gil hasn't fallen in love with Paris. He's fallen in love with the tourist veneer of Paris. It would have been nice to have seen the other, slightly darker, side of Paris, even for just a moment and I felt that the whole portrayal of the city was just a bit too Hollywood. Maybe I'm missing the point. This is meant to be a rom-com, not a social realist film. But even in that department, it seemed to be slightly half-hearted. Sure, there were some funny moments but these were few and far between and the comedic element in general was a bit underwhelming and flat.

Now, to the positives. The film is shot in a beautiful soft light and Allen certainly knows how to create a mise-en-scène (even if it is a bit too Disney at times). Having just slated the script for its absence of real comedy, I will commend it on its treatment of ideas, specifically its approach to the idea of harking back to a different time. Allen has skillfully addressed the idea that 'things were always better in the past' and that the characters are never fully happy in the time in which they live even though, to others, it is the perfect time to be alive. It is quite difficult to talk about this further without giving away plot spoilers, a bit like explaining the story of Titanic to someone whilst trying to avoid the fact that, yes, it does sink in the end. The attention to detail and high production values made the film a treat to watch and I was quite happy to just sit there and take it all in. Now, there is no doubt that the film is silly (or, if I were writing in some high-brow publication, surreal in its immutable treatment of transcendent human emotions). Yeah, let's stick with silly. But, if you're willing to go along with this, it really does start to work. The ideas, the plot and the location all begin to fit together and make for, ultimately, a satisfying film which is both light-hearted and fluffy. The ending is rather strange and sudden and may not appeal to everyone but in general, the film carries itself very well. A cameo by Carla Bruni may raise a few eyebrows and Michael Sheen's American accent is, well, interesting to say the least, but it is the film's sentimentality, its nostalgic and, in some cases, charming, look at the present and past which makes this a film worth a watch. Oh, and if you're learning English from this film, Parisian is not pronounced like friesian (as in cow). Just saying.

Clapperboard Rating: * * *