Midnight in Paris

A very nice film. It's not perfect, and it can't match the atmosphere of The Purple Rose of Cairo, but I watched it for an hour and a half with a permanent smile, and that's to be appreciated. Woody Allen's screenplay seems to combine the magic of two of his short stories - “A Twenties Memory", in which he recounts his experiences with Hemingway, Stein, Picasso, Toklas and others, and the excellent “The Kugelmass Episode", whose protagonist starts cheating on his wife with Madame Bovary thanks to an illusionist. Midnight in Paris is an enjoyable watch that could have been more elaborate (especially when it comes to the book Gil buys and reads about himself in), but its idea about the desire to live in other times at the expense of the present and especially its ending are so beautiful that almost all the criticisms had to be put aside. (08/10/2014)

Allen doesn’t disappoint. With considerable help from a traditionally excellent cast, and with his most intelligent script in years, he delivers a brilliant and charming advertisement for magical Paris that trumps almost all of his New York ballads in one fell swoop. Time travel has perhaps never been so tastefully entertaining on film, and there's certainly no other work that will make you want to know everything about all those legendary artists, from Hemingway to filmmaker Buñuel. Wilson is permanently likeable, McAdams unfortunately plays second fiddle, but she’s supplemented with grace by the irresistibly adorable Cotillard. Maybe when I can see the beauty of Paris myself, I’ll give it 5*. (11/29/2015)

A commercial for Paris. The Paris of dreamers and incorrigible romantics; so the absolute opposite of the real Paris. But so what? Woody manages to intoxicate us with the almost melancholic atmosphere of the “city of love" so much that it gets you wanting to go there... And add to this the outstanding Owen Wilson (who gives a better performance of Woody than Woody himself), the again cute (and again in a completely different way) Marion Cotillard, all the scenes with the big names of surrealism “rhino-Buñuel-Dalí-Man Ray-rhino", the playfulness (that’s right, Allen steals from himself; and so what?) and the overall relaxed atmosphere showing that “we all had a great time" which comes across wonderfully to the viewer. Which doesn’t always necessarily happen. (09/27/2011)

I've noticed that Woody Allen's films tend to be more enjoyable for me when their neurotic author doesn't make an appearance. In this case, Owen Wilson's portrayal of Gil evoked too much of Allen's essence for my liking. The romantic entanglements and the trajectory of relationships in the storyline weren't particularly challenging to decipher. The only thing left was time travel, which didn't do it for me this time around. Personally, I've never felt the desire to visit Paris; perhaps because it's surrounded by France and predominantly inhabited by the French, a combination that doesn't quite resonate with me. And I didn't even know that I could experience guillotining or a plague epidemic there if I chose the right kind of transport at midnight. / Lesson learned: Reminiscing can be nice, but there's a limit. (07/11/2022)

Woody Allen is fantastic at staging dialogue passages that demand a lot from the actors, but when it works out, it's beautiful. The actors for this project were brilliantly chosen and the film is flawless in its formal style. Owen Wilson's Gill is perfect as a torn artist who is smarter in his mind than in spoken words, the superficial characters are detailed and iconic, just like Hermes Birkin, playing a supporting role, and the "golden age characters" are timeless and warming, supported by excellently fitting sets and period music. The outcome is not as cathartic as most of the audience would probably want, but I think Woody is just playing and teasing with the viewer in this case, there was no deeper intention here, Paris is enchanting even in this rendition. Perhaps slightly self-indulgent and unnecessary, but a refined and formally grandiose film that is intelligent enough to be liked. (01/27/2013)