Paris, Je T’aime
Various Directors
Paris once seemed the center of the art-film world during the 1960s New Wave, now critics try to prove their radicalism by fixating on Asian and Middle-Eastern cinema as if the muse had permanently relocated. Still, some vital Western ideal persists in the French representation of humanity, and that implicit notion is proven by the omnibus film, Paris Je T’aime. This collection of 19 specially commissioned short films announces itself as “Little neighborhood romances,” set in different sections of the city, but it’s really a survey of contemporary experience—unified by the sense that the world can be seen when filmmakers of varied styles focus their sensibilities.
Each of these shorts seems French in nuances that echo the legacies of Renoir, Carne, Guitry, Clement, Chabrol, Truffaut, Rivette, Rohmer, Eustache, Pialat and others. In a sense, returning the favor. All terse and watchable, they successfully follow the anecdotal form—sometimes with Maupassant irony, sometimes with pure, trenchant observations. Gurinda Chadha mixes ethnic tension with teen romance, followed by Gus Van Sant’s language-barrier cruising episode. The Coen Brothers’ slapstick tourist’s nightmare starring Steve Buscemi leads to a precise and poignant treatment of class differences by Walter Salles.
Superb acting highlights Isabel Coixet’s marriage drama where Sergio Castellitto and Miranda Richardson summon the wisdom of Jules and Jim. Nobuhiro Suwa’s short family tragedy features Juliet Binoche in a definitive career performance. Best of all, Oliver Schmitz’s short sees a modern Paris of disorientating architecture and immigrant dreams, strikingly combined.
These outsiders’ interpretations enlarge Paris Je T’aime into an encyclopedia of global impressions; these characters and experiences can be applied anywhere with a greater understanding of human connection than the simple-minded Babel. Most cogent is Wes Craven’s episode with Rufus Sewell and Emily Mortimer visiting Oscar Wilde’s grave. And Alexander Payne closes the film with actress Margo Martindale in a Sinclair Lewis-type story of the yearning American spirit, almost a sequel to About Schmidt and a realist riposte to An American in Paris. Paris Je T’aime’s abundance is preferable to Grindhouse, because these filmmakers express themselves by addressing the world; it’s a one-movie film festival.
