A tourist and a native look at the same city in radically different ways. A native knows the hidden secrets of a city and can find his way around well. A tourist is just interested in landmarks and cannot navigate without them such as the Eiffel Tower which is how "Dans Paris", a lugubrious and obvious movie where
the characters stand exposed both physically and mentally, starts. After that particular cliched image, the next moment, inspired by the French New Wave, is just as unoriginal as Jonathan(Louis Garrel) addresses the camera directly to introduce a tangent off the main story. Months previously, Jonathan's brother Paul(Romain Duris), a photographer, is living in the country with his girlfriend Anna(Joana Preiss), a model, and her son, Loup(Lou Rambert-Preiss).(Why do men always get to be the photographers while women have to settle for being the models?) In Paris in the present on December 23, neither Paul or Jonathan can take of himself and both live with their father(Guy Marchand). Paul is suffering from depression(which is understanble since this is during the holidays) while Jonathan lives totally carefree, getting in at all hours of the night. Apparently, he also has more sex appeal than James Bond. Is it just me or does there seem to be a bit of male chauvinism in evidence in the writing of this mediocre film?
December 4, 2008
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