Not Coming to a Theater Near You

Paris Je T’Aime / Paris, I Love You / France/Liechtenstein / 2006

Wow, Paris kinda sucks. For a film emphasizing the I Love You portion of its title, most of the ten-minute “arrondissements” depict the French capital as a place where you can get beaten up, stabbed, addicted to drugs, addicted to drug dealers, divorced, drunk, dumped, heckled, stalked by a vampire, and led to your dead son by a cowboy. I suppose a two-hour film fawning over the mystical wonders of Paris would be utterly painful, but I don’t see how the aforementioned alternatives are any better. And, to be fair, Paris, Je T’aime has its moments of pure wonderment, including Wes Craven’s surprising short about a man and woman who separate in Pere-Lachaise and are reunited thanks to the ghost of Oscar Wilde. Vincenzo Natali’s vampire story is enjoyably atypical—a nod, it seems, to the films of Feuillade—and Alexander Payne’s closing contribution gives us a great performance from Margo Martindale. But the undeniable and overall best comes from Sylvain Chomet, whose story involves a young boy telling the story of how his parents, both mimes, fell in love; there is an element or two of fantasy, some stunning cinematography and special effects, and the usual scent of humorous anti-Americanism, enough to make “Tour Eiffel” both stand out on its own and fulfill the four-word promise of the film’s title.

by Adam Balz | Source: DVD
27 Nov 2007 9:38 AM | Submit Comment