The charm of romance

Rating: 8/10 (18 February 2012)

Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" is a sweet and charming examination of romance—not only romance of the heart but also romance for the past. Owen Wilson plays Gil, a hack Hollywood screenwriter who longs to write serious literature. He and his fiancée, played by Rachel McAdams, are visiting Paris to spend some time with her parents before they get married. Gil obviously adores Paris—as does Allen, who shoots it as lovingly as he shoots his own beloved Manhattan—and wonders whether he and his fiancée should move there permanently. As he escapes his insufferable soon-to-be in-laws, Gil stumbles upon the Paris of the past he has romanticized so thoroughly and encounters F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Picasso, and a host of other literary and artistic figures. He falls for the lovely Adriana, played by Marion Cotillard, and he is ultimately forced to reconcile his romances with his reality. Allen's script is, as we have come to expect, witty and insightful and intelligent, and the film itself will win you over with its charm and its honesty.