Film Review: Midnight in Paris (2011)

Woody Allen displays some of his vintage form with his latest film.  While it may lack the depth of his greatest works, such as Annie Hall (1977) and Manhattan (1979), the film is a true treat amidst a comic book and sequel-driven summer slate of loud movies.  Midnight in Paris (2011) is a thoroughly enjoyable fairy tale romance that is full of wit, charm, and beauty.  Furthermore, although its message becomes a bit preachy by the climax, it is still a valuable one for all audiences.

Hollywood screenwriter Gil Pender and his fiancée Inez travel to Paris with her parents, John and Helen, who are visiting France as a business trip.  While there, the young couple run into Inez’s friends professor Paul and Carol Bates; they happen to be there as well because Paul had been asked to lecture at the prestigious Sorbonne University.  While Inez is rather pleased to see them and make plans together, Gil clearly and immediately shows his disgruntlement.  He considers Paul to be a “pseudo-intellectual” who boasts a detailed yet largely inaccurate knowledge of the history and art of the city.  In addition, Gil has an uneasy relationship with Inez’s hardcore Republican parents who find Paris prosaic and believe Gil is making a mistake sidetracking his successful career in movies to begin an actual literary career, starting with a novel about a nostalgia shop, but he has suffered writer’s block.

Gil is a hopeless romantic and fervent lover of the Lost Generation, particularly Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and wishes the desire that all people face or consider at one point or another: If I could live in another time, what would it be? – Gil yearns to live in 1920s Paris.  With the increasingly unsatisfactory jaunt in Paris with Inez and the others, the distracted Gil wanders off into the night only to somehow find himself transported back in time into his golden age alongside his literary idols and meets the literary critic Gertrude Stein who agrees to look over his manuscript.  Furthermore, he meets Pablo Picasso’s beautiful young muse and mistress Adriana whom he quickly fancies.  However, when he leaves to gather his manuscript, he is back in the present-day.  Later, though, he discovers the secret method to go to the past requires a midnight stroll through the streets of Paris and returns repeatedly to party and hang out with numerous notable members of the Lost Generation, so many renowned artists that it becomes a tad ridiculous but still delightful; besides, this is a fantastical sort of science-fiction romantic comedy.  At the heart of the film is Gil’s relationships with Inez and Adriana as well as his struggle with nostalgia and career.

Allen has assembled a great cast to play out his latest fantasy.  Owen Wilson has almost never been better cast than as the quirky Gil; he is practically a perfect surrogate for Allen, who prefers to remain behind the camera nowadays as opposed to in front of it as the lead. Wilson makes the somewhat snobby character into a sympathetic one that audiences can relate to; viewers are captivated alongside Gil with the astonishing elegance of the past and its remarkable characters/figures.  Rachel McAdams plays her part rather well also; as the materialistic Inez, McAdams showcases a bit of her Mean Girls streak in the role, though not as over-the-top or quite as immature.  Michael Sheen inhabits the role of Paul excellently as does Kurt Fuller as Inez’s questioning father John.  Although Marion Cotillard’s character Adriana is no Annie Hall, that is she is not nearly as fully developed or compelling, Cotillard exhibits plenty of elegant beauty and liveliness to make the most out of her character.  As for the famous artists of the Lost Generation – particularly Kathy Bates as Stein, Tom Hiddleston as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Alison Pill as Zelda Fitzgerald, Corey Stoll as Hemingway, and Adrien Brody as Salvador Dali – each cast member shines, making each person distinctively charming.  Interestingly, France’s first lady Carla Bruni even has a small speaking role as a tour guide whom Gil briefly befriends.  Allen’s casting choices are spot-on and make the film all the more delightful.

In short, Midnight in Paris is a charming and fairly humorous romantic comedy that even critics of Allen may find agreeable.  It is largely undemanding and quite entertaining rather than cynical.  Furthermore, it has a simple yet significant message about nostalgia and living in the past that all audiences can relate to and should learn from.  Check out Allen’s latest film at least as a matinee or definitely as a rental/download.

Midnight in Paris – 8.5/10

 

 

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