606 – Midnight in Paris (***1/2)

Of all the Woody Allen movies in all the arthouse theaters in the world, this one is one of his truest, most engaging, most satisfying, and most existential. It’s a gigantic treat to lovers of literature everywhere, but even if you don’t know Toulouse-Lautrec from 2Pac, you should truly love either the tantalizing romantic angles or the mystery/fantasy underlying them all.

Allen is getting too old to be playing himself in these movies, so the task falls to Owen Wilson (who doesn’t have to change anything to do an Allen impression). Wilson plays Gil, a Hollywood writer engaged to Inez (Rachel McAdams), and they’re tagging along with Inez’s parents on their vacation to Paris. But while Inez is enamored with pretty, shiny objects and appearances, Gil instantly falls in love with the soul of Paris and wants nothing more than to wander its streets, particularly at night, to soak in its ambience and perhaps get inspired to work on his burdgeoning first novel. After all, such literary greats as Hemingway, Eliot, Fitzgerald, and Stein roamed those very streets; perhaps what they saw will help Gil.

Now, the following is not a spoiler in least. A quick look at the list of characters should indicate a change in venue for Gil. One evening, a little drunk from a wine tasting, Gil sits on a church’s steps; as the clock chimes midnight, an old car pulls up, exhorting him to come with them. Where? Why to the Fitzgeralds’ of course. This leads Gil down quite the path of self-examination and inspiration.

Along the way, Gil meets many of his literary heroes and discovers a little bit about what makes them tick. He’s even able to make return visits by going to the same place at the same time. Of course, Inez doesn’t believe him and is increasingly concerned with buying antique furniture with her bossy, snobby mother. The chasm between man and almost-wife widens.

There are several reasons to recommend this movie. As usual, Allen’s handpicked cast is up to its tasks. Some of these actors are known quantities to many people, but some are not; either way, they imbue their own characters with such a sense of reality that it’s easy to imagine that actor truly is that icon. They deal not in caricatures but in realizations.

Another huge plus is the way that the storyline is set up. On the one hand, you have the conflict between Inez and Gil, and on another you have his cathartic moments with his literary heroes. Along the way, Gil meets the Portugese Adriana (Marion Cotillard), a beauty who has inspired famous painters and who is in love with an earlier time – just as Gil is infatuated with his own earlier time. The moral that ties these two worlds and their inhabitants together is a simple one, and Allen delivers it with subtle grace and beauty.

I have never been to Paris, a faraway land to me. But look at what Allen has done with the way the movie is shot. Paris is idyllic in the daytime, a combinaiton of markets and boutiques, air-conditioned restaurants and street cafes. At night, the city comes alive, even in the rain; the movie is shot with such unerring detail and each raindrop seems a work of art symbolizing Gil’s various quandaries.

I think that Midnight in Paris is one of Allen’s finest over the past 20 years, perhaps one of his best ever, and certainly I’m not saying so idly. The man has a long track record of delightful, funny comedies and romances. He knows his audience well. But here, I think he surpassed some expectations; his recent spate of Euro-centric movies (like Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Match Point) were fairly well received by most critics (ahem, not this one), but Midnight in Paris far exceeds them both – as well as just about anything Allen’s done going back to the mid-1990s. It is a superlative film that’s rich in texture, meaning, and elegance, and its ending is a little surprising but certainly plausible – the perfect ending.

Midnight in Paris: ***1/2

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