Paris je t'aime (2006)
Director: 18 group of directors

Paris, je t'aime is 18 short stories set in Paris made by 18 different set of directors. Although each segment has only about 5 minutes, the good ones are fluid, affectionate and poetic, making the whole film a memorable experience. Here are the few ones I like,

I will start with the honorable mention, Place des fêtes by Oliver Schmitz. A Nigerian immigrant is dying on the street from stabbing wound. When the beautiful paramedic comes to help him, he feels as if he has known her.

Wes Craven's Père-Lachaise is a lighthearted story about a tourist couple visiting Oscar Wilde's grave and start having an argument there. Then it comes a moment of inspiration.

In Faubourg Saint-Denis, Tom Tykwer portrayed the yearlong love affair between a blind student and an aspiring actress in a fast paced sequence backed by techno music, mixed with happy, longing and sad emotions.

Isabel Coixet, who is fast becoming one of my most favorite directors, has made the Bastille segment. In this story the husband, who is about to leave his wife for another woman, decided to stay with her it when he learned she has terminal illness. It is a very loving piece. "By acting like a man in love, he became a man in love."

The best is saved for last. In Alexander Payne's 14e arrondissement, a middle-age woman recites her travel story in her French class in a rather flat tone. In her story we have learned she has a bland life and is somewhat lonely. But despite her seeming naiveté, it is those little things she has done to appreciate life that makes it a pleasantly uplifting story.

2009.05.21 [movie] - comments