Midnight in Paris

"No subject is terrible if the story is true, if the prose is clean and honest, and if it affirms courage and grace under pressure."

Gil Pender (Wilson) is a successful screenwriter, who is on vacation with his fiance Inez (McAdams), and her parents John (Fuller) and Helen (Kennedy).  Gil is trying to find inspiration for his novel "I'm having trouble because I'm a Hollywood hack who never gave real literature a shot", while Inez is more interested in touring the city with her pretentious pseudo-intellectual friends Paul (Sheen) and Carol (Nina Arianda).  One night, Gil is walking back to his hotel drunk and gets lost.  An antique car stops and the passengers invite Gil to join them.

At the bar, Gil realizes he is in the 1920s, his favorite decade.  During the evening he meets many of his idols: Zelda (Alison Pill) and F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston), and Ernest Hemingway (Stoll).  Hemingway even agrees to show Gil's novel to Gertrude Stein (Bates), although he refuses to read it:

"I would like you to read my novel and get your opinion."
"I hate it.""You haven't even read it yet."

"If it's bad, I'll hate it. If it's good, then I'll be envious and hate it even more. You don't want the opinion of another writer."

But when he leaves the bar, he is back in the present.  The next night he meets Pablo Picasso (Marcial Di Fonzo) and his muse, Adriana (Cotillard), who immediately catches Gil's interest.  He is fascinated by Adriana, and longs to spend more time with her.  Inez and their friends think Gil has lost his mind.  Can he find a way to keep both worlds, or will he be stuck in the present?


I only watched this film because it was nominated for an Oscar (and was available through Netflix).  Woody Allen films tend to be overly pretentious... critics love them, but do normal people actually watch and enjoy his films?  I saw Match Point based on a recommendation from a friend / movie fan, but I saw it as the exception to the rule.


However, I actually enjoyed this one.  Yes, the opening moments are overly indulgent... a wordless montage over the city, but in the context, it makes sense.  The cinematography is gorgeous and makes me want to 1) learn French and 2) go to Paris (and just walk around soaking in the beauty).

It was interesting to see all of the icons of the 1920s (and later the 1890s).  Everyone embraced their characters, but some work better than others.  Adrien Brody's Salvador Dali was obnoxious, but the rest were good... with Corey Stoll's Hemingway standing out.  It is a good film and an interesting script... I liked this film more than I expected.  I was funny and well-made, with an interesting story and an ending that you can't predict.  Well done Woody Allen, I still reserve the right to judge your movies prior to seeing them.

Midnight in Paris (2011) 94 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for some sexual references and smoking.
Director: Woody Allen
Starring: Owen Wilson as Gil Pender
Rachel McAdams as Inez
Marion Cotillard as Adriana
Kathy Bates as Gertrude Stein
Corey Stoll as Ernest Hemingway
Michael Sheen as Paul Bates
Kurt Fuller as John
Mimi Kennedy as Helen