Reviews – Film: Midnight in Paris
by Suzan Ryan , under Reviews
Midnight in Paris
Director: Woody Allen
Cast: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Michael Sheen
Hopscotch
NOSTALGIA and the persistent feeling that things used to be better in the “good old days” is something most people can relate to.
Whether you hanker for a time when lopping limbs off recalcitrant peasants from atop a mighty steed was considered socially acceptable, or pine for a few weeks ago—before an unfortunate conquest in a nightclub toilet left you with a dose of something itchy and sticky—it’s a universal theme.
Everything looks better in retrospect and Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen’s latest film, takes this idea and runs with it.
The plot revolves around Gil (Owen Wilson) the typical neurotic, navel-gazing, Woody Allen analogue. Gil is a successful, albeit creatively discontented, screenwriter who is engaged to Inez (Rachel McAdams). Inez and her parents take Gil with them on a business trip to Paris.
The city of lights reinvigorates something within Gil, a spark of artistic inspiration and he starts pontificating about his novel and unfulfilled ambition to create something with meaning. Gil’s specific obsession with Paris in the 1920′s soon alienates Inez and her achingly bourgeois parents, leading the frustrated word nerd to drink too much wine and go for a boozy wander.
Before you can say “magical realism” a vintage car pulls up in front of the bewildered Gil, the occupants encouraging him to join them for more revelling. Gil goes along for the ride and before too long realises he has ended up in some kind of space/time delay—a portal to the very era he so earnestly yearns for: Paris in the 1920s.
This is where Midnight in Paris really comes to life. The 20 or so minutes it takes to get there are, frankly, a little painful. Certainly they’re meant to give Gil the requisite motivation to want to escape but it’s hard to imagine what he ever saw in Inez—other than the fact she’s kind of hot.
Your enjoyment of the rest of the film really depends on how charming you find the idea of going back in time to meet one’s literary and artistic idols. Gil is soon chatting with the likes of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Salvador Dali and T.S. Eliot, not to mention making time with Adriana (played by the toe-curlingly lovely Marion Cotillard).
What follows is an amiable enough little story that, while very predictable, is undeniably sweet and romantic. It’s certainly Woody Allen’s most accessible film in years, recalling The Purple Rose of Cairo in its sense of wit and whimsy.
Owen Wilson is never quite as convincing as he needs to be, coming off a bit too California surfer boy and not enough angsty artist but the rest of the cast are uniformly stellar. Corey Stoll, Tom Hiddleston and Alison Pill (as Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald respectively) are particularly solid and give the film a sense of authenticity even when things take a turn for the silly.
Midnight in Paris is a slight but enjoyable movie and though one could be nostalgic for a time when Woody Allen used to make great films (Annie Hall, Manhattan) as opposed to pretty good ones—it does seem a rather petulant position to take. Taken as a sweet little adventure with solid acting, memorable moments and bulk travelogue footage—Midnight in Paris is a success.
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is in cinemas now.
Review: Anthony O’Connor
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