"Paris, je t'aime" (Paris, I Love You) is an assemblage of 18 short films set in Paris and having something to do with love. Although the Seine, and the Eiffel Tower, and Sacre Couer are shown, postcard Paris is mostly lacking except in the segues from episode to episode. An international array of directors show a multicultural Paris, with more episodes looking at emigres than at visitors to The City of Light.
Several tell full stories, others set up relationships that the viewer can imagine going on in various ways. I was disappointed by a few that I found too slight to discuss at all, and that Latin American directors whose work I admire made two of these (Walter Salles, Alfonso Cuarón).
I was surprised that the most romantic comedy segment was directed by Wes Craven (who also appears onscreen as the victim of a female vampire). I was not surprised that the highest-style one (including literally high: crane shots) was directed by Tom Twyker. The segments all have neighborhoods as their title. I've added the name of the director(s). I'm not at all sure why the order of the segments is what it is (though I can understand putting the slightest one first and Payne's monologue last).
My favorites
"Place des Fetes" (Oliver Schmitz [Mapantsula]) is the most tragic of the tales. "This isn't the first time they've met," a Nigerian who had worked as a janitor in a parking ramp (Seydou Boro) tells the paramedic (Aissa Maiga) who is attending him... and does not remember.
"Père-Lachaise" (Wes Craven) has a pair of English yuppies honeymooning in Paris in advance of their wedding (due to schedule constraints). The woman (Emily Mortimer) wants to see Oscar Wilde's grave. Her fiancê (Rufus Sewell) scoffs. He'd prefer to be having lunch at a 5-star restaurant. She is dismayed at the prospect of married life with someone who never makes her laugh, and he gets assistance from the spirit of Oscar Wilde.
"Faubourg Saint-Denis" (Tom Twyker). "Our love fell asleep and the snow took it by surprise, the actress played by Natalie Portman tells her blind companion (Melchior Beslon) over the phone. This triggers a literally fast-forward recollection of their relationship in his mind, which is clever as well as visually striking.
"Porte de Choisy" (Christopher Doyle): Paris's Chinatown provides a locale for the great cinematographer Christopher Doyle to show a high-style fantasy sequence with director Barbet Schroeder as a haircare product salesman. Li Xin stands out in differing looks.
Quais de Seine" (Gurindar Chadha [Bend It Like Beckham]) shows a young Muslim woman, Zarka (Leï la Bekhti) who wears a headscarf (an affront to French nativists) and a young man whose friends try to hit on women passing by with aggressive come-ons (I don't know if there is a French term, "piropos" is the Spanish). What happens is unexpected and charming.
"Place des Victoires" (Nobuhiro Suwa) showcases Juliette Binoche overcome with grief (as in "Bleue"). Even more surprising than music from Conway Twitty, Willem Dafoe turns up as a cowboy. Explaining it would take longer than watching it does. I found it touching.
"La Tour Eiffel" (Sylvain Chomet [The Triplets of Belleville]) is also touching, but far more comic: the tale of how two somewhat-corpulent mimes (Paul Putnermet and Yolande Moreau) met.
"Tuileries" (Joel and Ethan Coen), shot entirely in the subway station, shows an American tourist (Steve Buscemi), fresh from the Louvre (with many Mona Lisa postcards) learning why his guidebooks advises against making eye contact in the Métro. It has the absurdist humor one expects from the Coen brothers.
All of the above seem to me to be concentrated but satisfyingly realized (and surprisingly densely textured) movies. The rest felt sketchier to me.
"Pigalle" (Richard LaGravenese [Freedom Writers]) is the location of a bar where Bob Hoskins finds Fanny Ardent drinking. The statuesque Ardant makes Hoskins look particularly squat, but with a major assist from the Casinos ("Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye") the segment has a hopeful ending.
"14th Arrondissement" (Alexander Payne) ends the film's journey around Paris with a Denver mail-carrier (Margo Martindale), who studied French for two years before a five-night visit, telling about her feelings of loneliness and the enchantment with Paris that overcame her jet lag in very American-accented French.
"Quartier Latin" (Frédéric Auburtin and Gérard Depardieu directing a script by Gena Rowlands) show a couple meeting in a bistro (where Depardieu is bartender and seats guests) on the eve of their divorce. If the couple was not Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazzara, I probably would not have been interested, but their iconic status carries the night.
Mildly entertaining segments
"Quartier des Enfants Rouges" (Olivier Assayas [Irma Vep]) shows the marketing of the past with an actress (Maggie Gyllenhall) who is appearing in a costume drama, and needs drugs. They are supplied by a flirtatious motorcycle angel (Lionel Dray).
"Bastille" (Isabel Coixet [My Life Without Me ]) is the most melodramatic turn in the collection, It shows a man in a bar waiting the arrival of his wife (Miranda Richardson) whom he plans to tell he is leaving. The best laid plans of mice and men...
Le Marais" (Gus Van Sant) provides an ironic demonstration of the distance between message sent and message received (Gaspard Ulliel pouring out his heart to Elias McConnell). Marianne Faithful's role is tangential to the story.
"Quartier de la Madeleine" (Vincenzo Natali [Cube]) is a lurid, vampire picture starring the eyes of Elijah Wood.
"Montmartre" (Bruno Podalydès) is very slight, but I was mildly amused by the difficulty of finding a parking space, though the main story involves a fainting woman (Florence Muller) and a solicitous, lovelorn man (Bruno Podalydès)
Failures
"Loin du 16 e" (Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas) provides irony delivered with no subtlety, as a Latin American baby-sitter (Marina Moncade) drops off her own baby to go take care of one from affluent parents.
What is impressive about "Parc Monceau" (Alfonso Cuarón) is that the whole "story" is shown in one long take. Nick Nolte's French is not good (more than 2/3rds of his lines are in English). I might say "How much character can be devloped in five minutes," but there are multiple performances elsewhere in this assemblage that prove that the answer is "Quite a lot."
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The most memorable performances are those of Seydou Boro, Juliette Binoche, Melchior Beslon, Paul Putnermet, and Margo Martindale (she has the advantage in this of a monologue that lasts longer than many of the other films), but the film is a showcase of directors more than of performers. Individual tastes may vary in regard to appreciating particular segments. The city, seen mostly through alien eyes, looks ravishing (more between than in the short films).
Along with trailers of half a dozen First Look films (none of which I'd heard of), there is a 25-minute valentine to the movie that explains nothing of how the parts were ordered, but has a certain charm from enthusiastic directors and stars.
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