Paris (2008)
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Reviews Counted: 64
Fresh: 44 | Rotten: 20
Alternately a sharp ensemble dramedy and a love letter to the titular city, Paris is uneven but often striking.
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Critic Reviews: 19
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 8
Alternately a sharp ensemble dramedy and a love letter to the titular city, Paris is uneven but often striking.
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Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 20,425
Movie Info
Love and life pose dilemmas for a handful of friends in the City of Lights in this romantic drama from French filmmaker Cedric Klapisch. Pierre (Romain Duris) has enjoyed a successful career as a dancer performing in Parisian nightclubs, but when he's diagnosed with a serious heart condition, his doctor warns him that the strain of his work could kill him. Pierre must reinvent his life, and as he ponders his future and his mortality, he turns to his sister, Élise (Juliette Binoche), a social
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Cast
-
Juliette Binoche
Elise -
Romain Duris
Pierre -
Fabrice Luchini
Roland Verneuil -
Albert Dupontel
Jean -
François Cluzet
Philippe Verneuil -
Karin Viard
The Baker -
Gilles Lellouche
Franky -
Mélanie Laurent
Laetitia -
Zinedine Soualem
Mourad -
Julie Ferrier
Caroline -
Olivia Bonamy
Diane -
Maurice Bénichou
The Psychiatrist -
Annelise Hesme
Victoire -
Audrey Marnay
Marjolaine -
Xavier Robic
TV Presenter -
Farida Khelfa
Farida -
Suzanne Von Aichinger
Suzy "Miss Bidoche" -
Marco Prince
Disco -
Kingsley Kum Abang
Benoît, Benoît, Beno? -
Judith El Zein
Mélanie Verneuil, Méla... -
Emmanuel Quatra
Grand Nanar -
Nelly Antignac
Rachel -
Joffrey Platel
Rémy, Rémy, R?my -
Renee Le Calm
Madame Renée, Madame R... -
Sabrina Ouazani
Khadija
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All Critics (65) | Top Critics (19) | Fresh (44) | Rotten (20) | DVD (5)
When it comes to being a fool for love, there are no city limits.
Top CriticPerhaps it's time for a moratorium on movies where the trajectories of various people intersect, often portentously, across the tableau of a big city.
The French director Cédric Klapisch is a glib wizard at weaving folks together, but there are too many secondhand characters roving through Paris, his latest ensemble piece.
Paris keeps us involved not because of momentous plot developments but because the production incites our curiosity to see what will happen next.
Writer-director Klapisch's glossy love letter to Paris, and its yearning, beautifully lighted inhabitants, may not be much, and you may not even believe in its emotional and (discreet) carnal complications moment to moment. But the cast is fabulous.
Klapisch, who shoots Paris with the eye of someone rapturously in love with the town, is less interested in the reality than the romance.
Less a gourmet meal than a flaky pastry, Paris is a slight but sweet love letter to the urban life of the city of lights...
Director Cédric Klapisch embraces Parisians' reputation for moroseness with a cast of melancholy, but passionate, characters.
When these Parisians actually do connect, the city's magic finally begins to shine. Binoche, in particular, positively glows when things finally go right for her. Still, such moments seem a long time coming, and often feel, well, a bit rushed.
'Seize the Day.' That's the title of a song that plays during the end credits... It's also the trite message of this tedious tapestry-of-life ensemble piece, in which a prettily dying young man advises his man-less sister to 'take a chance on chance.'
Despite some wonderful performances and memorable situations, writer-director Cédric Klapisch ('L'Auberge Espagnole') fails to recapture the warmth of his previous ensemble dramas.
Overlong and with ambitions of grandeur, Cedric Klapisch's enjoyable Paris is an attempt at Trollopean social archaeology that's best received with a shrug and a smile.
It may occasionally seem a little too facile, but all in all the movie scores more points than not and becomes a film of genuine merit.
You can't really argue with a film that tells us we should be good to one another, celebrates the importance of family and suggests we should live our lives to the fullest.
[Y]ou probably cannot ever go wrong with a flick set in the City of Light and starring one of the most luminous actresses ever to grace the arthouse screen...
An explosion of acting, sets and costumes that leaves the viewer with a feeling of near permanent glossiness.
Klapisch's movie boasts passages of genuine magic.
In this overpacked ensemble cast, it's Binoche you want to see more of.
...this Paris is a fantasy unlikely to be encountered by either tourist or resident, but considered as a travelogue for intellectuals, it's an enjoyable way to spend a few hours
Were it possible for The City of Light to see Nashville or Manhattan, it would probably want to sue for defamation.
This isn't, perhaps, the "best" film ever about my beloved city, but it certainly ranks up there as an ode to the allure of such a celebrated destination.
The movie is filled with brief glimpses of meaningful symbolism.
Audience Reviews for Paris
Super Reviewer
Good cast and made up of quite a few characters whose lives overlap. Some of the characters more interesting than others.
Fans of French films will like this, but I wouldn't recommend it to appeal to all.
Super Reviewer
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Movie: ID: 770686943 Title: Paris Release Date: 2008-02-08 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 4 Status: 1
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Additionally, I detected a degree of misogyny in the film's portrayal of women. Most of the men go through complex existential crises, but with the exception of Elise, played by the always charming and lovely Juliette Binoche, and possibly Caroline, the women in this film are either flakes or sluts.
Overall, Paris is a good film, but it falls short in a couple key areas.