Paris

Old and young, sick and healthy, rich and poor, happy and sad meet and part ways, love and hate, rejoice and suffer, live and die in a city of contradictions. In the hands of Cédric Klapisch, the diverse portrait of the amazing and unique Paris shatters into little episodes that are in no way inventively connected. Klapisch wants to show all of the faces of the city on the Seine, but his weird genre mash-up (from carcinogenic art to animated parody) ultimately just maps the local sights that everyone already knows. When this needlessly long film finally came to an end, all I felt was Paris overload. It would have sufficed to concentrate more feeling on one of the many ideas that had been touched on (like Pierre and his creation of fictional stories for non-fictional characters “down there”). Not even the very good cast can make up for the lack of care that should have been given to the one-dimensionally written protagonists – especially the disgustingly “compliant” female characters. Paris is a pointless and shallow film that spends two hours searching for (and not finding) its heart. As with Erasmus, here it is also true that less is sometimes more. 45% (30/06/2012)

Paris is certainly an interesting movie with an interesting plot and actors. However, the narration was a bit difficult to take, but it was uplifted to the pleasant average by the great shots of the beautiful city, which I hope to visit at least once again in my life. (25/04/2013)

A poster-like Paris, photogenic destinies, color print film... This is a typical festival film that tries to sell the atmosphere of Paris, movie stars, and calculated emotions. But Paris should evoke a dreamy and captivating mood, not a sense of noble boredom. The film just barely earns 3 stars, solely due to the presence of sympathetic Juliette Binoche and Fabrice Luchini and a few successful scenes. Otherwise, it reminded me of cheap ice cream with lots of artificial coloring and inferior sweeteners. Overall impression: 50%. (13/05/2011)