paris, je t'aime

it must have the french tourism board that was behind this loving film about love in paris. also by the fact that most of the ‘foreign’ protagonists in the film were american, or had american connections the usa was obviously the primary audience for the film. even the stars were old hollywood stars – nick nolte and gena rowlands or young hollywood brats – elijah woods and natalie portman. such a transparent appeasement device was allowable perhaps because it was so transparent. the only foreign films it is assumed that we will watch are feel good fluff made for american tastes. and feel good this was – and very american.

the ‘concept’ of the film being that 18 film makers make love stories set in 18 different neighbourhoods in paris, each film being only 5 minutes long. the films ranged from fantastic, sappy, silly to ordinary- nothing terribly bad- which i guess nothing can be in a time slot of 5 minutes.

recaps-.

1. the cussing man in the car who finds love when a woman faints near where he is parked
2. gurinder chaddhas inter racial love story about a girl in a burkha – sweet and fuzzy
3. gus van sants lovely boys who cant talk to each other because one is french, the other american, neither here-nor there
4. a vampire story in ‘sin-city’ black and white with very red blood where elijah woods sacrifices himself for love,
5. a pointless and meandering film about a day in life of a migrant housekeeper, very self-serious
6. a charming mime episode where two odd people find love in a jail cell , really quite nice
7. a beautiful and moving monologue by a denver postal worker in holidaying alone in paris in a flat american accented french
8. a wild warped and fabulous personal take on his own chinese attachments by christpopher doyle
9. the coen brothers hilarious film set in a metro station with steve buscemi playing the tourist
10. nick nolte in a pointless little story about walking in paris to meet his grandson
11. juliette binoche in a terrible sappy story about a woman mourning the loss of her son
12. the only story about the african population in paris was a tragedy of a man and a nurse meeting when the guy is stabbed
13. a spatting couple o their honeymoon visit oscar wildes tomb and make up with a little help from the ghost of the writer
14. a nasty and sarcastic war of words between a couple about to divorce after each has found a much younger lover
15. a couple playing out sexual fantasies to reignite their desires for one another
16. a man about to leave his wife suddenly discovers that she is dying of leukemia and falls in love with her again
17. a love story between a blind parisian and an american actress
18. another pointless film about an actress and her drug supplier.