REDEFINING LOVE IN THE CITY OF LIGHT: DEVELOPMENT OF NARRATIVE IN PARIS, JE T’AIME

By Emma Din

“FIND YOURSELF TRANSPORTED AND MAYBE TRANSFORMED BY THESE SEXY, ROMANTIC, HAUNTING DRAMATIC AND BEAUTIFUL STORIES. PARIS JE T’AIME GOES BEYOND THE ‘POSTCARD’ VIEW OF PARIS TO PORTRAY ASPECTS OF THE CITY RARELY SEEN ON THE BIG SCREEN, REVEALING ITS PARISIAN HEART AND SOUL AND LEAVING YOU WITH A VISION THAT WILL LAST LONG AFTER THE FILM IS OVER.”

- FIRST LOOK STUDIOS

REVIEWS/COMMENTS/CRITIQUES “Twenty directors tackle 18 of Paris’ most distinctive neighborhoods with

close to 20-20 artistic vision in “Paris je t’aime.” Omnibus—with the City of Light as its milieu and love as its raison d’etre– is uneven but quite pleasant as a two-hour experience that acknowledges the idealized Paris people carry in their heads while wisely veering off the beaten track.”

- Daily Variety “Paris Je T’Aime needs ‘these kinds of private jokes’ because the film is ‘a

human adventure’…The first rough cut was like a ‘floating octopus.’ The challenge was to locate ‘the emotional spine line’ that links the stories, rather than merely stringing them together without logic.”

- Frederic Auburtin as reported to The Straits Times (Singapore) “The brief for the high-profile directors of “Paris, Je T’Aime” was as

sweeping as an essay question on a French baccalaureate exam: Make a five-minute film set in a Paris arrondisement that reflects the spirit of the neighborhood, the city and the nature of love itself. But what happened when you ask mostly foreign filmmakers…to make a love story in a city they don’t know by heart? You get a cinematic potluck in which individual exercises in style reflect at least as much about the filmmakers as about the subject matter…[the film] portrays a modern, multicultural Paris blind to cultural, gender, class and even language differences.”

- New York Times

REVIEWS/COMMENTS/CRITIQUES CONTINUED… “Paris in 18 short films, of which 3 succeed.”

- Le Monde “Paris Je T’Aime Verdict: Proof that Paris doesn’t always bring out the

best in filmmakers…It arrives too late for Paris’s Olympic bid, and I’m not sure what other function it could have, except to drum up a bit more tourist trade…Only one sequence an ineffectual would-be comedy by the Coen brothers debunks the familiar clichés. The few highlights come towards the end, notably a bittersweet contribution by actress-writer Gena Rowlands, directed by Frederic Auburtin and Gerard Depardieu…Only one item, a Richard Curtis-style potted romcom directed by horror maestro Wes Craven, struck me as having the potential to be anything bigger…Easily the most eye-catching contribution is by Belleville Rendez-Vous director Sylvain Chomet. His whimsical account of a love affair between two Parisian mime artists manages to be even cheesier and more twee than it sounds. Other efforts are minibores that stretch out the running time to 115 minutes, much too long for so lightweight an entertainment…they might have created something a lot fresher and more thought-provoking.”

- Daily Mail (London)

SIX FILM SEGMENTS EXAMINED:1) “Quais de Seine”: Gurinder Chadha2) “Tuileries”: Alexander Payne3) “Parc Monceau”: Alfonso Cuaron4) “Quartier de la Madeleine”: Vincenzo Natali5) “Le Quartier Latin”: Frederic Auburtin & Gerard Depardieu6) “14eme Arrondissement”: Alexander Payne

•I selected these segments because they were the most discussed in the reviews and critiques of the film I found. They also represent a variety of film directors with differing backgrounds and film techniques.

• GOAL: To examine how the narrative is developed through dialogue, film techniques, and sound.

“QUAIS D

E SEINE”- G

URIN

DER CH

ADH

A

“With a light touch and an eye for the glories of a sunny day, Gurinder Chadha offers a pitch perfect commentary on the idiocy of religious and racial stereotyping in “Quais de Seine.”

- Daily Variety

“TUILERIES”- ALEXAN

DER PAYN

E

“Steve Buscemi’s majestic schleppiness anchors Joel and Ethan Coen’s comic slam-dunk.”

- Daily Variety

-“One of the most entertaining segments.”

- Irish Times

“PARC MO

NCEAU

”- ALFON

SO CUARO

N

“Alfonso Cuaron plays with sound, space and viewer assumptions in a long tracking shot with a mild twist.”

- Daily Variety

“Disappointingly slight.”

- The Irish Times

“QUARTIER D

E LA MAD

ELEINE”- VIN

CENZO

NATALI

“Tetsuo Nagata’s like a samurai who works with light,” says helmer Vincenzo Natali, who worked with Nagata on the highly stylized “Quartier de la Madeleine” segment of “Paris, je t’aime.” He has such a clean and precise way of lighting and composing, and he does everything seemingly without effort.”

- Daily Variety

“QUARTIER LATIN

”- AUBU

RTIN &

DEPARD

IEU

“Rowlands and Ben Gazzara get excellent mileage out of a café appointment with edgy yet affectionate sparring.”

- Daily Variety

“One of the few highlights.”

- Daily Mail (London)

“14EME ARRO

ND

ISSEMEN

T”- ALEXAND

ER PAYN

E

“Alexander Payne skillfully condenses the tone of his feature work into the closing segment in which Margo Martindale shines as a middle-aged letter carrier from Denver narrating her solo trip to Paris in French.”

- Daily Variety

“The menu saves the best course for last.”

- The Irish Times