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We have yet to form a design for love, but "Paris, je t'aime" accurately maps out the stories of lovers in the city of love. The film consists of 18 short films directed by 18 different directors and their own brief takes on the classic love story. Each short film takes place in a different neighborhood in Paris.
The goal of the film is to capture Paris without any veneer. It's not the "postcard Paris" that so many immortalize; it is coarse and natural with no apologies.
The first short film, "Montmarte," begins by introducing an ill-tempered man whose life is "like a glove box, empty." He provides the perfect introduction to a film centered around the passion of fictional others. He serves as a reason for hope.
The Cohen brothers make delusional dreams in the metro station become realities through the inspiration of a sub-par guidebook. Tourists are told that staring is rude while the camera quickly cuts to a postcard of the "Mona Lisa."
"Loin Du 16EME" depicts a division in the classes as a poor woman is seen having to leave her child to take care of a wealthy woman's child.
"Bastille" is a poignant piece about falling in love with the same person for a second time. The narrator points out that to act in love again is to become in love again.
While the theme of the film may be love, each director has a different view of what the word should be defined as. Some shorts are highly abstract and experimental. Some are heightened with violence. "Quartier de la Madeleine" is a vampire love story starring Elijah Wood.
Juliette Binoche (Chocolat) renders the emotional grief of losing a child in "Place de Victoires." Her sons voice echoes: "cowboys still exist."
The film is wrought with moments of artistic hilarity. Monks in bowling alleys. Mimes dancing in jail cells. Children with overly-large glasses and backpacks.
"Quartier de la Madeleine" features Natalie Portman as an American actress who falls in love with a blind linguist. The film affirms love's ability to make one act, sometimes for a reason and sometimes for no reason. "Places des Fetes" by South African filmmaker Oliver Schmitz features a man falling in love during the last moments of his life.
The film accurately illustrates the beauty and unconventional enthusiasm of the city. Viewers experience the narrow streets spotted with small cafes. The architecture and art become a reality. The audience experiences the city not as an onlooker, not as a tourist, but as a member of a community. By observing the nature of relationships, one is able to truly experience every aspect of them.
The most moving piece of the whole film is the last short "14th Arrondissement," which encompasses thematically every neighborhood featured in the film. Margo Martindale (Walk Hard, The Savages) plays an American tourist in Paris in search of a meaning in her life.
She dictates to a voice-recorder her experiences in Paris in a heartwarmingly terrible excuse for French. She has a radiating sense of loneliness, as she illustrates that beauty is best when shared. Not only does she fall in love with Paris, but Paris falls in love with her.
The film concludes with images of each of the shorts contrasted with a cheesy firework display in the background. (Think Love Actually, but worse). The images are set to Feist's "We're All in the Dance," which accurately represents the unavoidable nature of passion seen throughout the film.
"Paris Je'Taime" ranges from the extremes of the cliché to the abstract, but lays a middle ground so everyone can identify. The film is the embodiment of falling in love in the city of love.
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