(This review originally published at Filmwell, a blog of The Other Journal.)
La Belle Époque
Written and Directed by Woody Allen 2011
(Spoilers Aplenty!)
Midnight in Paris: the title slides in one ear and out the other, the words worn down to wisps of meaning. Juxtaposing them is almost a joke-- for what two words have borne the weight of greater romantic cliché? But wouldn't you know that Woody Allen's newest film brings both "midnight" and "Paris" back to glittering life, the images repossessed of the magic they once evoked. Midnight in Paris is a film with its brain on and its heart wide open, self-aware and swoony at once. Amid the sprightly proceedings, Allen reveals a shocking optimism that dares us to find the charm inside our lives, with just a sprinkling of experience to give it savor.
Hollywood screenwriter Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) is in Paris, which is just about heaven by his standards. His well-bred fiancée, Inez (Rachel McAdams), has different tastes, her sights set on a life of massages and social climbing in Malibu. The two are tagging along on her father's business trip, and while Inez is intent on spending time brunching, wedding-planning, and entertaining the company of a smug fellow vacationer, Gil is trying to refine the manuscript of his novel. For Gil, Paris is the antidote to soul-sucking Hollywood, an emblem of romance and culture and everything writerly. Inez tells him he's in love with a fantasy, and we might be inclined to believe her-- until that very fantasy springs to life before our eyes.
Continued at Filmwell...
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