Come , fall in love with Paris

Rating: 8/10 (13 June 2012)

" Nostalgia is denial - denial of the painful present... the name for this denial is golden age thinking - the erroneous notion that a different time period is better than the one ones living in - it's a flaw in the romantic imagination of those people who find it difficult to cope with the present " , dialog mouthed by the pseudo-intellectual Paul almost typifies the movie "Midnight in Paris " & what it is about.
It is a romantic comedy set in Paris by the most romantics of all Woody Allen. It tells the story of Gil Pender, an dissatisfied writer working in Hollywood trying to get inspiration for his first novel in Paris and how he travels back in time to meet the great artists , writers & legends who have set their foot in Paris in the 1920's . However romantic & alluring the past may be it is always good to accept present for what it is is what Gil finally end up realizing.
It is one of the best movies of the year & boy , it is an interesting piece of work from the grand old man after a long time . The movie moves at a lively pace with no scope for boredom anywhere in between. The manner in which the script seamlessly blend the present with the past & the resonance it has in the present life is amazing piece of work.
And they have tried to capture the real people – who they were & how they were , whom we know only by their piece of art rather than who they are in actuality. Ernest Hemmingway , Cole Porter , Zelda & Scott Fitzgerald , Gertrude Stein , Picasso ,Salvador Dali, Man Ray , Luis Buñuel & the rest who made Paris their home in the 1920's are seamlessly blend into the script & interestingly at that. And Gil gets attracted to one of the mistress of Picasso , Adriana who has mysteriously mentioned about him in her biography.
In the present Gil is caught between his love for Paris & his desire to stay back in Paris and his wealthy & intolerant fiancée , Inez who want him to get settled in Malibu and continue with writing scripts for the Hollywood. Finally he realizes what he wants & takes action as the movie ends with a romantic twist in the end.
It is the best of Owen Wilson , the quintessential "pin-headed" hero of mindless comedies. He has acted in a subtle manner for the first time on screen as Gil who travels back & forth in time. Kathy Bates as Gertrude Stein is reliable as ever , Marion Cotillard as Adriana is stunning , Corey Stoll as Ernest Hemmingway is brilliant , Adrian Brody as Salvador Dali is darn funny .
Rachel Macadams is neat as Gil's arrogant fiancé Inez while Kurt Fuller as he dad is good. Michael Sheen as the pseudo-intellect Paul Bates gets to mouth couple of sparkling lines.
Apart from an neat script , marvelous cinematography ( Darius Khondji & Johanne Debas) & pleasant background score (Stephane Wrembel ) , splendid dialogs are another gratifying aspect of this movie.
" Sex and alcohol. Fuels the desire kills the performance " , "The artist's job is not to succumb to despair but to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence " , " I'm jealous and I'm trusting. It's cognitive dissonance" , "That's what the present is. It's a little unsatisfying because life is unsatisfying." , " 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 ", "You always take the side of the help. That's why Daddy says you're a communist" are few of the many wonderfully written dialogs by Woody Allen admixed with quotes of those famous artist of the yore.
On the whole , "Midnight in Paris " is a wonderful piece of art that strikes you in your head with a message , don't always try to find refuge in the past when the present gets rough , get on with your present life.
Bottomline : Come , fall in love with Paris