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PARIS, JE T'AIME
Directed by: Olivier Assayas, Frédéric Auburtin & Gérard Depardieu, Gurinder Chadha, Sylvain Chomet, Joel & Ethan Coen, Isabel Coixet, Wes Craven, Alfonso Cuarón, Christopher Doyle, Richard LaGravenese, Vincenzo Natali, Alexander Payne, Bruno Podalydès, Walter Salles & Daniela Thomas, Oliver Schmitz, Nobuhiro Suwa, Tom Tykwer, & Gus Van Sant.
Produced by: Claudie Ossard & Emmanuel Benbihy.
Released by: First Look Pictures.
Language: French & English, with English subtitles.
Country of Origin: France. 120 min. Rated R.
With: Fanny Ardant, Leïla Bekhti, Melchior Beslon, Juliette Binoche, Seydou Boro, Steve Buscemi, Sergio Castellitto, Cyril Descours, Ben Gazzara, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Bob Hoskins, Olga Kurylenko, Aïssa Maïga, Margo Martindale, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Emily Mortimer, Nick Nolte, Natalie Portman, Paul Putner, Miranda Richardson, Gena Rowlands, Ludivine Sagnier, Rufus Sewell, Barbet Schroeder, Gaspard Ulliel, Elijah Wood & Li Xin.

Paris, je t'aime is not the first time a multitude of filmmakers have been commissioned to do short films around a single theme (Eros, September 11, etc.), nor is it even the first collection to focus on Paris (Paris vu par…), but it is the most ambitious with the most international directors invited to do the shortest films, with 20 filmmakers assigned a single arrondissement (neighborhood) to tell a story of a romantic encounter in under five minutes, with a limited budget, and in less than three days. (The producers excluded two as not fitting in, Christoffer Boe and Raphaël Nadjari).

The 18 writer/directors, most well-known throughout the world, diversely interpret romance. Most of the directors draw on familiar themes or techniques from their longer works, adding few additional insights, such as Spaniard Isabel Coixet again exploring death and adultery in “Bastille,” as in her My Life Without Me, and Olivier Assayas returning to addiction and loneliness in “Quartier des Enfants Rouges,” like in Clean.

Several of the best films feature amusing or poignant interactions between locals and tourists/visitors that are beset by language or cultural confusions. Joel and Ethan Coen hilariously satirize the recurring image of lovers kissing with pure Buster Keaton results. Gus Van Sant’s “Le Marais” is one of the few that uses a gimmicky twist to good effect, teasing the audience’s expectations, as charismatic Gaspard Ulliel (almost unrecognizable from A Very Long Engagement with long hair here) pours out his heart to his soul mate, and Alfonso Cuarón toys in “Parc Monceau” with the stereotype of a young nymphet (Ludivine Sagnier) paired with older man Nick Nolte. But too many depend far too heavily on role playing, such as Richard LaGravenese’s “Pigalle” with Fanny Ardant and Bob Hoskins.

In addition to a vampire and a cowboy (in Canadian Vincenzo Natali’s “Quartier de la Madeleine” and Japan’s Nobuhiro Suwa’s “Place des Victoires,” respectively), a handful of the films deal with multiethnic faces amidst racist Parisians. Bend It Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chadha sweetly makes a lovely connection in “Quais de Seine” between a French boy and a headscarf-wearing Muslim girl, optimistically looking to a future new France; Pan-Asian cinematographer Christopher Doyle’s “Porte de Choisy” creatively uses cultural tensions between Asians and French for stylish commentary in an unusual hair salon, flashing funny touches of Bollywood and Hong Kong; while South African-born Oliver Schmitz’s "Place des Fêtes" sadly individualizes the differences among African immigrants.

Like inside jokes, a few of the directors appear in several films. But several films are showcases on how captivating actors can create whole characters in seconds. Gena Rowlands wrote her role for Frédéric Auburtin and Gérard Depardieu’s “Quartier Latin” and confirms that the U.S. should knight grandes dames of cinema. Brazilians Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas’ heartbreaking “Far From the 16th Arrondissement” focuses on the expressive face of Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace), and Margo Martindale magnificently culminates many of the collection’s observations in Alexander Payne’s About Schmidt-like concluding “14th Arrondissement,” as her Midwestern letter carrier muses in atrociously-accented elementary French on the magic of Paris.

While the point of spreading the films throughout the city was to include residential areas, the cliché sunrises and sunsets between the segments are just tourists’ picture postcards. However, the bilingual closing song “La même histoire (We're All in the Dance)” by Canadian songstress Feist will send you off humming about life and love in Paris while recalling many touching relationships in these films, as most are sentimentally old-fashioned. Nora Lee Mandel
May 4, 2007