This anthology film is a love letter to Paris and to love itself. Twenty short films were commissioned for the feature-length project set in the 20 arrondissements of Paris. Only two of those films did not make the final cut. Directors such as Gus Van Sant (GOOD WILL HUNTING), Joel and Ethan Coen (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN), Walter Salles (CENTRAL STATION), Sylvain Chomet (THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE, Alfonso Cuaron (CHILDREN OF MEN), Wes Craven (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET), Tom Tykwer (GO) and Alexander Payne (ABOUT SCHMIDT) all helmed sections. Stars such as Steve Buscemi, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Nick Nolte, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Bob Hoskins, Elijah Wood, Natalie Portman, Gena Rowlands and Gerard Depardieu (who also directs) provide the film with their acting talents. Altogether it works as a joyous experience.
Director and star Bruno Podalydes begins the film with a hate story to Paris parking, which ends in a lonely man having a pretty passerby (Florence Muller) fall for him. Gurinder Chadha (BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM) brings us a tale of a young white man (Cyril Descours) who meets a young Muslim woman (Leila Bekhti) at the park, but what will her grandfather think when he follows her to their mosque? From Gus Van Sant, there is a tale of a print shop customer (Gaspard Ulliel, HANNIBAL RISING) who is smitten instantly with the young worker (Elias McConnell, ELEPHANT), but there is a hidden obstacle to the customer's bold declaration of his affections. In a typical Coen Brother unsentimental fashion, their "love story" finds an American tourist (Buscemi, FARGO) trapped in the middle of a lovers' spat between a pretty young girl and her hotheaded boyfriend.
Bringing in the first somber tale, Walter Salles teams with Daniela Thomas for the ironic story of a young Spanish maid (Catalina Sandino Moreno, MARIA FULL OF GRACE). Australian director Christopher Doyle, who is better known as the cinematographer of such classic Chinese films as CHUNGKING EXPRESS and IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, paints a surreal comedy about a beauty supply salesman (director Barbet Schroeder) that encounters a combative customer (Li Xin) in Chinatown. Spanish director Isabel Coixet presents a bittersweet tale of an older man (Sergio Castellitto, MOSTLY MARTHA) set to break off his marriage for a younger woman when his wife (Miranda Richardson, SPIDER) drops devastating news. Nobuhiro Suwa's somber tale falls right after, telling the story of a grieving mother (Binoche, CHOCOLAT) who slips into a fantasy world featuring a cowboy (Dafoe, PLATOON).
Lightening the mood, animator Chomet mixes live-action with pixelization animation in a story of a mime who discovers love in jail. In one continuous shot, director Cuaron presents a curious scene where an older man (Nolte, CAPE FEAR) meets a young woman (Ludivine Sagnier, THE SWIMMING POOL) for a nighttime rendezvous. Olivier Assayas (CLEAN) gives us a hashish dealer (Lionel Dray) who has a crush on his frequent client, an American actress (Gyllenhaal, WORLD TRADE CENTER). Germany's Oliver Schmitz crafts a heart wrenching tale of a down-on-his-luck Nigerian parking lot attendant (Seydou Boro) who falls for a beautiful ambulance attendant (Aissa Maiga, CACHE). American director Richard LaGravenese (LIVING OUT LOUD) shows us an older man (Hoskins, MONA LISA) venturing to a sex club where he has an encounter with an older woman (Fanny Ardant, ELIZABETH) sitting at the bar.
CUBE director Vincenzo Natali takes the film in a supernatural direction when a backpacker (Wood, LORD OF THE RINGS) encounters a beguiling creature of the night on the dark streets of the city. Famed horror master Craven also brings a bit of supernatural whimsy to his tale of a dour fiancé (Rufus Sewell, DARK CITY) who can't make his wife-to-be (Emily Mortimer, MATCH POINT) laugh, but gets some inspiration at the gravesite of Oscar Wilde. German director Tykwer gives us flashes of the relationship between a young blind man (Melchior Beslon, THE PRINCESS AND THE WARRIOR) and a fledgling actress (Portman, CLOSER). Written by Gena Rowlins and co-directed by Gerard Depardieu and French director Frederic Auburtin, the next segment finds a long separated couple (Ben Gazzara and Rowlins) meeting at a bar where they discuss their impending divorce. The final sequence, directed by Payne, follows Carol (Margo Martindale, MILLION DOLLAR BABY), an American postal worker, who has saved her money to travel to Paris alone.
Wow, that's a lot to take in, but it doesn't capture the film's heady joy. Through its best segments (Chadha, Schmitz, Payne) to its weakest (Doyle, Tykwer), the film floats effortlessly from one short episode to the next. Because each is at least entertaining, the film never seems weighed down by any of the segments. At first it seems like a collection of "meet cute" moments between new lovers, but the film develops a more complex vision of love as it moves along. The acting from the entire cast is first rate, but standouts include the always-brilliant Binoche and Martindale, who never speaks a line of dialogue, outside of her sketchy French narration. This fun dance through the streets of Paris is a treat for anyone who has ever gone or dreamed of going to the City of Lights… or anyone who has ever been in love.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
