Midnight in Paris
A Woody Allen Film
Starring Owen Wilson, Rahel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates, Carla Bruni and an all star cast
On DVD February 6th, 2012
by Joanna Orland
Welcome back Woody!!! Woody Allen is finally back on form with the amazing film Midnight in Paris. Starring Owen Wilson as the neurotic lead male character and Paris stepping in for Woody’s usual New York, Midnight in Paris is very worthy of its Best Picture Oscar nomination.
As with most Woody Allen films, the city itself is as much of a character as the actors play. As the title would suggest, this film’s leading city is Paris. A city of nostalgia, art, history, culture and allure. Owen Wilson’s character Gil is drawn into the city’s mystique, unfulfilled by his writing career and impending marriage to Rachel McAdams’ Inez, he believes he belongs in a different era in the city of Paris. Through the magic of “it’s just a film”, he magically time travels every night at the stroke of midnight to the streets of Paris during the time of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway and Picasso. He meets and interacts with his heroes and falls in love with artist muse Adriana, played beautifully by Marion Cotillard.
This film is charming, beautifully structured, with timeless themes of not belonging, searching for something more, and finding one’s self in general. The scenery is fantastic as the film travels across all of Paris, even stopping into my favourite restaurant the Polidor where we meet Hemingway for the first time. In addition to the amazing characterizations of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, look out for an underused and hilarious Adrian Brody as Salvador Dalí and his obsession with rhinoceroses.
This film needs to be seen by Woody fans, Paris fans and film fans alike. Woody is on form like he hasn’t been in years. Owen Wilson has embodied the Woody persona as good as Woody himself. Paris is portrayed with the same love Woody has always shown to New York. Having watched this film on Sunday, I had booked my train ticket to Paris by the following Tuesday. An inspiration.
