MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

 

My official DVD of Midnight In Paris (© Woody Allen/Gravier Productions/Mediapro/Televisió de Catalunya (TV3)/ Versátil Cinema/Sony Pictures Classics – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

On 25 July 2021, I watched a thoroughly charming fantasy/comedy/romance movie that was hitherto unknown to me but whose DVD I had purchased entirely on spec a few days earlier for just 20p (in a 5 for £1 offer) from a local market stall.

Entitled Midnight in Paris, and released by Sony Pictures Classics in 2011, it stars Owen Wilson as successful but bored American screenwriter Gil who wants to break away from Hollywood and write novels instead, much to the disapproval of his irascible fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams). Indeed, as the movie progresses, we see that she is unfairly critical and incredibly unsupportive of him in every way, except of course for his earning plenty of money at screenwriting, even though his heart and passion are not in it any more.

They are currently in Paris (the movie was filmed entirely on location there), where Gil hopes to draw inspiration for his debut novel, much to Inez's disgust. She prefers partying with friends (especially the thoroughly obnoxious pseudo-intellectual Paul – played to supercilious perfection by Michael Sheen) and her parents, and duly does so, virtually abandoning Gil.

One night, while walking alone back to their hotel as the clocks are striking midnight, Gil is hailed from an approaching 1920s-style car – he steps inside, and finds himself transported back in time to 1920s Paris. Here, to his astonishment but delight, he is able to socialise freely with such icons and glitterati as Ernest Hemingway, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald (Scott played by Tom Hiddleston), T.S. Eliot, Josephine Baker, Cole Porter, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Man Ray, Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates), and many others, before returning to his own time at the break of dawn.

Gil's nocturnal time travelling occurs every night thereafter from midnight to dawn, in a scenario not dissmilar from that of the UK TV show Goodnight Sweetheart. And just as happens in that show, he meets and falls in love with a young woman from the earlier time period, Adriana (played delightfully by Marion Cotillard, one of my all-time favourite actresses). He also meets an engaging museum tourist guide (played by France's then First Lady, Carla Bruni, married to French President Nicolas Sarkozy), with whom he once again has far more shared likes and interests than he ever does with the ineffably irritating Inez.

Needless to say, major complications soon arise, but I won't detail them here so as not to spoil the movie for those who may wish to see it after reading this present review. Suffice it to say that, as in all the best fantasies, everything is ultimately resolved for the best, even if not precisely in the manner that the viewer may be expecting.

Directed and written by Woody Allen (which I didn't even realise until the credits rolled at the end, and for whom its screenplay won an Academy Award, plus nominations for Best Director, Best Art Direction, and Best Picture), Midnight In Paris is a thoroughly charming movie, in which you are rooting every second for Wilson's affable, sweet-natured Gil to shake off the shackles of loyalty binding him to his monstrously insensitive, selfish, feckless fiancée (not to mention the abject embarrassment and public humiliation regularly heaped upon his uncomplaining shoulders by her) and discover someone who can offer him the happiness, shared interests, and returned love that he so richly deserves. But does he? Watch the movie and find out!

In short, this is an involving as well as a visually stunning movie, amply supplemented with pertinent period songs by Cole Porter and authentic Parisienne music. All in all, therefore, Midnight in Paris was 20p very well spent, that's for sure!

But don't take my word for it – click here to savour just a little of the magical mystique from Midnight In Paris via an official trailer on YouTube.

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