Paris, Je T'aime

[Paquita]

Just wondering if anyone has seen this collection of short films (and whether one would recommend it)? It has quite the impressive lineup of directors (Coen brothers, Alfonso Cuaron, Walter Salles, Gus Van Sant, Alexander Payne...) and actors (Juliette Binoche, Natalie Portman, Ludivine Sagnier, Maggie Gyllenhaal...). It just opened in Toronto a couple weeks ago.

[PK]

Yes, I thought it was a beautiful, unusual tribute to love, stories of unusual love and heart. It was always a surprise to see who might show up next. I strongly recommend it!

[ajg]

I also enjoyed it. I wanted some of the pieces to go on for a longer time, others were just right for the time frame. Overall I came away with a deeper/richer picture of Paris.

[dirac]

Thanks to those who have posted. Please provide more details if the spirit moves you.

I haven't seen it yet. Earlier this year I did see a French movie, 'Avenue Montaigne,' and liked it very much. It's a light comedy of the kind only the French seem to pull off regularly. The heroine was a fey gamine sort, a type that normally makes me want to toss my popcorn, but I liked this one and it was sad but good to have the opportunity to say goodbye to the late Suzanne Flon.

[Helene]

I haven't seen it yet. Earlier this year I did see a French movie, 'Avenue Montaigne,' and liked it very much. It's a light comedy of the kind only the French seem to pull off regularly. The heroine was a fey gamine sort, a type that normally makes me want to toss my popcorn, but I liked this one and it was sad but good to have the opportunity to say goodbye to the late Suzanne Flon.

I had the opposite response to Avenue Montaigne. I thought I was witnessing the demise of French cinema. I thought the shot of Jacques Grumberg in the hospital while Lefort played piano to be the height of cloying sentimentality that I'm used to in Hollywood movies, although I did love his reply to his son, when he tried to warn dear papa about his new, young golddigging stepmother: "When you're young, you build a life. When you're my age, you buy one."

And tying up Catherine's storyline with Sydney Pollack's Brian Sobinski could have been written for Julia Roberts. I don't expect to see a French movie and be hit over the head with "get it?" overkill.

It was great to see Flon one last time, though.

[dirac]

I just thought it was refreshing to see romance and sentiment done with a little taste. Over here in America we tend to get stuff like Crossing Delancey....

[papeetepatrick]

I thought I was witnessing the demise of French cinema.

That sensation can happen, but is little different from seeing certain productions of 'Swan Lake' and expecting it to become a Claude-Michel Schonburg or Elton John Disney musical--but I know the sensation well, it hits like a bomb in the brain. Haven't seen Avenue Montaigne myself, but my recent fascination with Isabelle Huppert has bottomed out--'The Piano Teacher' is the peak, but when you see a great deal of her films close together, you find that the acting has one quality in it that is always evident: She's always so businesslike. Always seems to be thinking: NEXT! They parodied her beautifully in '8 Femmes', thrilling beyond belief for the Deneuve/Ardant makeout scene...

I just thought it was refreshing to see romance and sentiment done with a little taste. Over here in America we tend to get stuff like Crossing Delancey....

Let me remind you again to try to find 'Les Temps Qui Changent'--should be pretty easy to find on DVD, and has been for 8-9 months. I think this is old-fashioned romance and sentiment done with superb taste, and I think Techine, who always works from the heart, is one to make me sure that French cinema has a good prognosis. Now in '8 Femmes', we are not talking about any taste, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world, especially Deneuve's zaftig green dress...

[dirac]

'The Piano Teacher' is the peak, but when you see a great deal of her films close together, you find that the acting has one quality in it that is always evident: She's always so businesslike

That last quality made me dislike her Madame Bovary. You had the feeling Huppert would just bop Charles on the head one evening or put something in his soup.

She's so great in Piano Teacher, although she's way too beautiful - Jelinek makes it clear in the book that her heroine is plain.

Not to discourage other lines of thought, but please chime in, anyone who's seen 'Paris, Je t'aime.'

[dirac]

It is now playing in my area and I plan to attend this weekend.

Veering off topic somewhat, has anyone seen a good film this summer that is off the beaten/blockbuster track? If so, please report.

[innopac]

It is now playing in my area and I plan to attend this weekend.

Veering off topic somewhat, has anyone seen a good film this summer that is off the beaten/blockbuster track? If so, please report.

Official Website of The Lives of Others

This is a very powerful German film with the wonderful actor, Ulrich Mühe. It is one of the best movies I have seen this year... one of those you could watch more than once.

Review of The Lives of Others

"An intense thriller begins in East Berlin five years before the fall of the Berlin Wall and traces the gradual disillusionment of State Security Captain Gerd Wiesler, who works for the Stasi Secret Police..."

[Figurante]

Oh thank goodness someone posted about The Lives of Others.

My gosh.. I think it may be one of my favorite movies yet, as I've seen it around 6 times, I think.

I fell in love with Weisler and the plot outline surrounding the "starving artist" type. I definitely recommend it!

[Figurante]

Sorry.... I know these aren't really related to this topic.. but...

Two other movies that are definitely worth seeing are:

Letters from Iwo Jima

The Last King of Scotland

And two recent ones you MUST see:

Joshua

Sicko

Both are AMAZING. Especially Joshua. Psychological child horror films always get me.

And of course, Sicko makes me want to pick up my bags and move overseas to a company with crazy healthcare arrangements.

More mainstream, I thought 28 Weeks Later was properly fictional thriller.

P.S. two others I am dying to see are Black Book and Naqaab. Unfortunately I am in a city where indys are sporadically shown.. Has anyone seen them? Opinions?

[Petra]

I don't know whether 'A Mighty Heart' is off the beaten track but it is well worth seeing. There isn't much to say about it - one knows the story going in and the movie does preach to the choir. I don't think that anyone who sees the world in black and white will leave the theatre thinking otherwise. Nevertheless, above and beyond commemorating the individual story of Daniel Pearl, it is - unusually for a small American movie - a testament to the humanity and inhumanity of man, including those who are foreign to 'us' in every way.

[dirac]

A good article on “The Lives of Others” appeared just a couple of months ago in The New York Review of Books.

Some of the language is also too high-flown, old-fashioned, and simply Western. A playwright who knew on which side his bread was buttered would never have used the West German word for blacklisting, Berufsverbot, in conversation with the culture minister. I never heard anyone in East Germany call a woman gnädige Frau, an old-fashioned term somewhere between "madam" and "my lady," and a Stasi colonel would not have addressed Christa during an interrogation as gnädigste. I would bet my last Deutschmark that in 1984 a correspondent of the West German newsmagazine Der Spiegel would not have talked of Gesamtdeutschland.

There were many things I liked about “The Lives of Others” but I was impressed by the way von Donnersmarck takes a conventional genre form – the thriller – and makes something deeper out of it.

Nevertheless, above and beyond commemorating the individual story of Daniel Pearl, it is - unusually for a small American movie - a testament to the humanity and inhumanity of man, including those who are foreign to 'us' in every way.

I’m going to try to see “A Mighty Heart” before it goes away, which may be soon, unfortunately. I was not initially eager to go as it sounded to me like an upscale “Harrison’s Flowers” but I’m hearing good things about it.

[sandik]

Back to the original thread, I saw Paris, je t'aime last month and was very impressed. The format, short films linked by a common theme, worked very well -- the brevity of the individual sections seemed to force the directors towards clarity. Each segment was very intense, probably because they had such a limited amount of time to make their point.

[tangentially, there is a new work showcase here in Seattle run by the presenter On the Boards called "12 Minutes Max" the conceit being that no one work can be longer than 12 minutes. In the past they've promoted it by reminding us that, if it turns out we don't like some part of it, it will only last for 12 minutes]

The individuality of the sections is quite lovely, but even sweeter is seeing so many actors I've seen before (and many I have not) in these discrete little vignettes. Gena Rowland and Ben Gazarra are particularly wonderful as an older, divorcing couple who are still really mated to each other despite their other relationships, but there really isn't any wasted energy in any of the roles. The film is well worth searching out in the theater, or looking for on DVD when it's released.

[Paquita]

I finally got around to seeing "Paris, Je T'aime" yesterday and also enjoyed it very much. Each film was so different and they flowed into one another very well. The brevity of each section made them feel fleeting, unfinished, and true to real life.

[atm711]

It is now playing in my area and I plan to attend this weekend.

Veering off topic somewhat, has anyone seen a good film this summer that is off the beaten/blockbuster track? If so, please report.

Golden Door----also, off topic,--I love Crossing Delancey---perhaps because in my youth I knew too many people like the snobbish writer.......

[dirac]

It is now playing in my area and I plan to attend this weekend.

Veering off topic somewhat, has anyone seen a good film this summer that is off the beaten/blockbuster track? If so, please report.

Official Website of The Lives of Others

This is a very powerful German film with the wonderful actor, Ulrich Mühe. It is one of the best movies I have seen this year... one of those you could watch more than once.

Review of The Lives of Others

"An intense thriller begins in East Berlin five years before the fall of the Berlin Wall and traces the gradual disillusionment of State Security Captain Gerd Wiesler, who works for the Stasi Secret Police..."

Sad news. Ulrich Mühe has just died.

[innopac]

It is now playing in my area and I plan to attend this weekend.

Veering off topic somewhat, has anyone seen a good film this summer that is off the beaten/blockbuster track? If so, please report.

Official Website of The Lives of Others

This is a very powerful German film with the wonderful actor, Ulrich Mühe. It is one of the best movies I have seen this year... one of those you could watch more than once.

Sad news. Ulrich Mühe has just died.

Thank you for posting this. Ulrich Mühe was an exceptional actor. For me his performance in "The Lives of Others" communicated almost unbearable poignancy and depth.

[dirac]

Back to the original thread, I saw Paris, je t'aime last month and was very impressed. The format, short films linked by a common theme, worked very well -- [tangentially, there is a new work showcase here in Seattle run by the presenter On the Boards called "12 Minutes Max" the conceit being that no one work can be longer than 12 minutes. In the past they've promoted it by reminding us that, if it turns out we don't like some part of it, it will only last for 12 minutes]

The individuality of the sections is quite lovely, but even sweeter is seeing so many actors I've seen before (and many I have not) in these discrete little vignettes. Gena Rowland and Ben Gazarra are particularly wonderful as an older, divorcing couple who are still really mated to each other despite their other relationships, but there really isn't any wasted energy in any of the roles. The film is well worth searching out in the theater, or looking for on DVD when it's released.

Thank you, sandik, for that detailed review.

the brevity of the individual sections seemed to force the directors towards clarity.

I have had occasion to wish that more severe time constraints could be put on some of today’s filmmakers. I nearly always come away from the theatre wishing the film in question was about twenty minutes shorter. This is not to suggest that we return to the days when a feature film could be no more than seventy to ninety minutes, even if we could, but when I do see movies from that era I appreciate the qualities you mention in ‘Paris, je t’aime’ – brevity, clarity, intensity.