Paris je T'aime - 14e arrondissement
Though I bought the movie quite a while ago, I only finally watched it today and I adored it. Such an immersive and beautiful film that further delighted me personally as a lover of Paris who hopes to one day return and see all that I didn't see (the first short by Bruno Podalydès reminded me right off the bat that I have yet to visit Montmartre). Each story was touching and well executed (yes, even the oddball vampire love story between Elijah Wood and Olga Kurylenko, certainly the most bizarre of the lot, though I daresay it still fit) and I was pretty well entranced from start to finish.
This, however, is particularly due to my absolute favourite out of all the segments - 14e arrondissement (linked above). I love this one. Alexander Payne, what a lovely and simple way to bring the movie to its close. Beautifully shot, as were all the rest, and Margo Martindale, superbly bad French accent and all, was absolutely perfect in it.
I loved every little bit - from the notion of this sweet mail carrier from Denver taking French classes so she can go and have an adventure in Paris, to her relishing in her independence and thus skipping on a tour group, to her elegantly insightful ruminations about dictators, love and Paris itself - all exquisitely tied up by her poorly accented but nevertheless moving narration as she reads about her love affair with Paris to her French class. In fact, that touch only made her and her story just that much more adorable. Bravo to whosoever decided to go with it.
The rest of the stories are also quietly compelling in their swift simplicity and I particularly enjoyed Quais de Seine (lovely job, Gurinder Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges), Loin du 16e (a quiet gut puncher about a mother who for income's sake has to sacrifice her time with her own child in order to take care of another), Tour Eiffel (entertaining as hell mime love story) and Quartier des Enfants Rouges (excellent tale twist and Maggie Gyllenhaal, yet another reason to love her).
Honestly, cheers to all the directors for such a lovely piece of cinema. C'était vraiment incroyable.
