DVD Review: Paris

Posted Mar 8, 2010 by Kevin Walker

Updated Mar 11, 2010 at 04:53 PM

Paris (available March 16)
Stars: Juliette Binoche, Romain Duris, Fabrice Luchini, Albert Dupontel, Melanie Laurent, Karin Viard
Directors: Cedric Klapisch (“The Russian Dolls”)
The plot: A dancer, Pierre (Duris), awaits a heart transplant. His sister, Elise (Binoche), a single Mom with two children, moves in with him. They’re quite a pair — she thinks she’s done with men forever, and Pierre spends his days watching his neighbors from his balcony. Soon the movie follows some of them, including a lonely history professor (Luchini) who falls in love with a student (Laurent) and a market vendor (Dupontel) who still runs his stand with his ex-wife. There’s also a racist shop owner (Viard) and several other smaller plots.
Bottom line: This is a good, if not great, French film, but it has a lot of the traits that make European cinema a nice change of pace after a steady diet of Hollywood. There’s no big ending, for example, and when something bad happens, it’s random and terrible and doesn’t come with a sweeping musical score that tells you: “Now is the time to feel sad.” Luchini perfectly embodies the character of an intelligent, lonely man at mid life, and Bincohe is more interesting in her forties than ever. Laurent (“Inglourious Basterds”) stands out in an ensemble cast. This is a quiet movie, for the most part, but it’s engaging in its examination of the drama of the missed opportunities and occasional connections of every day life. Klapisch drives his point home by using the Wax Tailor song “Seize the Day” (with Charlotte Savory on vocals). By the way, that song is a nice bonus, as are the endless beautiful shots of Paris.
Extras: A behind-the-scene feature that — rather than just being a glorified commercial, as so many are — actually shows the detailed (and often mundane) work that goes into a shooting a movie.
Quote: “I’m in love. I feel like I’m 15.”
130 minutes (R; profanity and some sexual references)