Midnight in Paris

Rating: 7/10 (29 July 2011)

Woody Allen has been a bland filmmaker for a while now, so much so that it might seem impossible that he could be capable of making a film as good as his earlier hits were. He may never do that, though he's returning to form somewhat in Midnight in Paris. Somewhat, in his newest film's resemblance to the "Allen formula" of delving into the intricacies of personal relationships, but differently in its ultimate transcending of humanism in favor of personal commentary on certain novelists and filmmakers he admires.
This aspect of Midnight in Paris is its most appealing feature for the knowledgeable viewer and presents many opportunities for meta-textual analysis between the various historical figures contemporary Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) visits and the movements they've helped inspire. Perhaps from this vista one could see the completed film as an admonition on Allen's part that his next good film will be distinctly modern and stylistically dissimilar from earlier works.
What I've described actually composes the bulk of the film in the literal and figurative sense of that word. Pender's personal life gets a lot of running time and its banality is severe. His fiancée Inez (Rachael McAdams) is underwritten as an "ugly American" movie villain who could exist to satisfy Allen's mostly-European audience's stereotypes or as a convenient cliché. After he experiences magical nights with Gertrude Stein, the Fitzgeralds, and Luis Buñuel, he returns to segments where he (we) has to be reminded how uninspiring the modern world is. Allen would like you to see some of these parts as a critique of modern fetishization of dead intellectuals and their works, which it could be if more meaningful content was provided other than an obtuse tour guide who spouts inane trivia. This results in the viewer's half-appreciation for the film, remembering its intriguing core while disregarding its exterior vapidity. None of the good earlier works Allen directed were so internally polarizing.
Pender begins falling in love with one of the historical characters he meets, which ironically happens because she is attracted to his vulnerability in being in a new time. He even manages to find her diary in the modern era and tries to woo her, which fails when he realizes she idealizes (and visits) an earlier period. The fantasy comes to an end. They can never be "together," since their fetishes are distinct despite their similar foundation. In fact, the whole movie plays on fetishization as its thesis. It opens with a montage of many shots of Paris, including its less glamorous locations. Inez and her family are too interested in shopping around town and walking guided tours. Even Gil is allured by the intellectual culture rather than a genuine interest in experiencing the city as it is. Midnight in Paris, as can be seen from Allen's decision to show more of the city than his characters care to see, is a movie about how the city is conceived by people who either aren't French or don't live there. It's shown from an American vantage point, perfectly ending with Pender deciding to leave his fiancée and meeting a charming Frenchwoman. Owen Wilson was therefore a great choice for the title role, with the naïve optimism so characteristic of his people and represented in the screenplay.
Recommended