Video Review

Midnight in Paris
Dir. Woody Allen

It may be me, but I feel like the days of the auteur director are gone. I remember thinking that the name of the director meant something. For some, just hearing who the director was could be reason enough to see a movie (in the same way my mom is pretty much on board for any Harrison Ford movie). It seems like these prestige days of film have been steadily waning since the 70s and nowadays it looks like studios are really just pushing whatever can yield returns. I’m not trying to take an elitist stance on the matter as I thoroughly and routinely enjoy my fair share of Hollywood dreck, but once in a while a movie comes along where you really feel the director’s passion, perspective, and motivation. Midnight in Paris is one of those movies.

Midnight in Paris tells the story of Gil Pender (Owen Wilson), a Hollywood screenwriter disillusioned by his high-paying yet unfulfilling job. He’s vacationing with his fiancé Inez (Rachel McAdams) in Paris while her father negotiates a big business deal. While in Paris, Gil sneaks out nightly to get inspiration for a passion project of his, a semi-autobiographical novel about a man who cannot escape thinking about the past – and wouldn’t you know it, every night at midnight a cab appears that magically transports Gil to 1920s Paris. Here, he meets all sorts of literary figures such as F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleson), Salvador Dali (Adrien Brody), and Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates) all of whom help him sort out his predicament.

What sounds like a rather whimsical premise is really Woody Allen’s way of showing the romantic and sensuous nature of Paris. I’m kind of liking Allen’s recent tour of the world. Though the director is most well-known as using New York as a character (Annie Hall, Manhattan, etc.), recently he’s made stops in London (Match Point, Scoop), Spain (Vicky Christina Barcelona), and now Paris. I’d argue that the change of scenery has yielded some of Allen’s strongest works yet. Midnight in Paris is a sweeping romance, but interestingly not between Wilson and McAdams. In fact, Inez is a shrill harpy that berates and insults Gil at every turn. Instead, the romance exists within the streets and buildings of Paris. This deep affection is felt within every inch of Allen’s film. The soft antique lighting, the crowded, smoky Jazz club, the wistful Cole Porter tune in the background – everything just has a quiet, slow-paced elegance of days gone by. Everything, as well, has the touch of vintage Woody Allen and Wilson embodies the self-deprecating, insecure protagonist Allen would have played some 30 years ago.

Now the film isn’t without its flaws. There are numerous historical characters packed in, some of which appear only to be name-checked. As mentioned before, Rachel McAdams’s Inez is whiny and cloying as Gil’s fiancé and you wish someone would just push her in the Seine already. That being said, though, Midnight in Paris evokes a feeling that you rarely get in movies nowadays. There is no violence, there is little profanity, plot points are forced along by transforming robots or mile-high explosions. The audience is allowed to relax and follow the gentle current along as a story is told. Allen has shown that he’s a fan of letting a story blossom and unfurl at a gentle clip, like a leisurely stroll through the city of lights.