One city
10 million hearts
One love story
One film
That is what's written on the poster for Paris, Je T'aime, which is a collection of 18 5-minute short films made by a total of 20 directors. A film about love in Paris... can anything be more clichéd, more worn out as a premise for a film? In the end, how is Paris, Je T'aime? Is it a glorious and self-indulgent disaster? The short answer is that Paris, Je T'aime is not only a delightful celebration of love, with each short film a unique and wonderfully crafted piece, but the entire affair flows quite beautifully, and ultimately the film as a whole is also a celebration of modern cinema. This is, without any doubt, the best film that I've seen in the theaters this year.
The gathering together of so many talented directors and actors is truly an impressive accomplishment in itself, but this gimmick is completely elevated by the simple fact that everyone involved in this project has given so much care, and invested so much love! This is cinema in a very pure form, and though we will all have our favorites among this collection of shorts, it cannot be denied that each has its own peculiar flavor and unique touch.
The most common display of love in these stories is of course through couples, but several do not take that approach. The couples may be meeting for the first time, or may have been together for decades. One of the love stories lasts only an instant, and others deal rather with loss and sacrifice.
Watching the film feels like a journey through complete lives, and you are taken from the quirky, to the tragic, to the comic, to the heartbreaking, and back to the quirky, and so on. I will not be giving a synopsis for each of the shorts, since this will spoil almost the entire experience of watching the film.
I have no idea how this enormous team coordinated the project, because even though each film is independent of the other, they all play in a very organic manner. The film starts with a simple story, and ends on the most perfect note. The film is mostly in French, despite a heavy American presence. Most of the American actors speak at least a little bit of French in the film, but I was particularly impressed by Maggie Gyllenhaal's fluency (though she has a very cute American accent). I cannot imagine this film being dubbed, so if you have the choice between watching it dubbed or subtitled, please watch it subtitled, as a few of the special moments are somehow language-related.
Each story begins with the title and director's name, and each title is the name of a particular corner of the sprawling city of Paris.
The most socially poignant of the stories was Gurinder Chadha's Quais de Seine, which was one of my favorite stories. The Coen brothers, reuniting with Steve Buscemi, are in incredible shape with Tuileries, which is completely funny and absurd as the Coen brothers do best. Wes Craven did not direct the short I thought he would, but he does have an interesting cameo appearance. His piece, Père-Lachaise was charming, and I think it was the only story that was completely in English.
The most painful stories were Bastille (Isabel Coixet), Loin du 16e (Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas) and Place des fêtes (Oliver Schmitz).
The oddest stories were Porte de Choisy (Christopher Doyle) and Quartier de la Madeleine (Vincenzo Natali).
The funnier stories were Tuileries (the Coen brothers), Tour Eiffel (Sylvain Chomet) and Pigalle (Richard LaGravenese). Tour Eiffel is perhaps the cutest of all the films, and Pigalle is a joy to watch as it unites one of France's greatest veteran actors (Fanny Ardant) with one of England's (Bob Hoskins).
The others also have their own unique touches, and Alfonso Cuaron's Parc Monceau has Nick Nolte in perhaps his most delightfully sleazy role. Tom Tykwer worked with Natalie Portman and Melchior Beslon (who was in Tykwer's The Princess and the Warrior) for the stylish Faubourg Saint-Denis.
I honestly feel like writing so much about each piece, but I will stop with Alexander Payne's 14e arrondissement, the last short film of Paris, Je T'aime, and what I referred to as the "perfect note." Payne's story is at the same time the funniest, sweetest, and most heart-warming of all the films. He managed to convey such honesty in his story, and Margo Martindale also deserves a very special mention for her straightforward and earnest performance in this piece. Ending Paris, Je T'aime with this short was a brilliant decision, and it left me with feelings of complete bliss as I walked out of the theatre.
Paris, Je T'aime really is something special, and I've only broached several aspects of the film in this review, but I wish that people will watch this hidden gem. It's beginning to be released in more European countries, and it seems that it will arrive to North American cinemas in April of 2007.
It's a completely engrossing film, and a terrific exploration of love from various unique and yet wholly unpretentious perspectives.
(out of a maximum of 5)
If you have to wait a long time for the movie to play near you, hopefully the trailer will keep you satisfied in the meantime:
