REEL REFLECTIONS

"Midnight in Paris"

A Film Review

Dave Greiser

"Midnight in Paris" is Woody Allen’s forty-first film, and it is the first that I have attempted to review in print. I have followed Allen’s long film career almost since it began in the late 1960s with a series of formless, madcap comedies. It matured with the production of several romantic comedies-the best of which is probably the 1977 Best Picture Oscar winner "Annie Hall." 

Over the years Allen has ventured into a Bergmanesque period (beginning with "Stardust Memories") and attempted films that mixed philosophical exposition and drama ("Love and Death," "Crimes and Misdemeanors"). He has produced light homages to Shakespeare ("A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy"), and even forayed into romantic fantasy ("The Purple Rose of Cairo").
Along the way, Allen has explored perennial themes that have mirrored his own personal struggles. He loves to tweak pretentious intellectuals—even though most would say he himself is an intellectual. He muses endlessly on the value of life in a godless universe. He wonders whether he would be happier living in another place or another time. 

Most of all, Allen agonizes over the inability of humans to remain content in long-term love relationships. Nearly every one of his films sets love, death, and doubt against the backdrop of a large, gorgeously filmed cosmopolis. No one makes cities look better than Woody Allen.

"Midnight in Paris" contains all of Allen’s perennial themes, save his preoccupation with God. Set in contemporary Paris, "Midnight" is the story of Gil and Inez (played by Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams). They are an engaged couple who have tagged along with Inez’ wealthy parents, who have come to Paris on business. 

Gil is a schlocky but commercially successful Hollywood screen writer. Like many writers, Gil harbors the dream of becoming a serious novelist. He is certain that Paris, with its bohemian memories of the jazz age when a poet or artist stood on every corner, would be the perfect place to live and to fire his imagination to become the next Hemingway. Inez wants nothing more than to settle down in Hollywood to a life of shopping and material comfort.

Over lunch in a bistro, the two run into Inez’ old flame Paul (Michael Sheen) and his new wife. Paul is an insufferable pedant with a superficial knowledge of nearly every aspect of high culture—art, literature, French architecture, wine. 

While Gil is unimpressed, Inez is taken afresh by her old love interest’s brilliance. Soon, Inez is spending the evenings clubbing with Paul and his wife while Gil walks and admires the Parisian streets alone.

One night Gil becomes lost in the streets and sits on some church steps to get his bearings. The church bell chimes midnight, and a 1920s Peugeot filled with revelers pulls to the curb and invites Gil to get in.

Unfortunately, to reveal what happens next would be classified as a spoiler. In the interest of preserving the surprise (it’s worth it!) for those who still want to see the film, I will simply say that Gil finds plenty of material to feed his literary imagination. In the process he and Inez will be made to confront the perennial Allen quandaries: Would somebody else’s life be more interesting to live than mine? Is it really possible to find permanent contentment in a love relationship?

Besides the wonderful plot twist at this film’s center, the other key to this film’s success is Owen Wilson’s portrayal of Gil. Allen’s films nearly all contain a character with the Woody Allen persona (whether Allen himself or another actor), and in this film the Allen character is Gil. Wilson plays Gil with a kind of wide-eyed innocence that is missing from Allen’s well-known version of the world-weary and slightly cynical schlemiel. Despite the posture of innocence, Wilson is able to believably deliver the wry observations and snotty one-liners that have become a Woody Allen trademark.

But this is more than a film of one-liners—it is a film that explores the self-discovery of its characters and, very possibly, the life learnings of Woody Allen himself. During one of his late night soirees, Gil is given a revelation: no one else’s life is better than his own. No other period of history is any more "golden" than this one. No relationship that is worth pursuing is ever without its times of boredom, conflict and struggle. Life itself is flawed; tragically, beautifully so. Even in its absurdity, it is worth the investment.

Throughout his long career in film-making, Woody Allen has explored his love affairs on the big screen: love affairs with cities (New York, London, Paris), women (Louise Lasser, Diane Keaton, Mia Farrow) and even the genius of other film makers (the Marx Brothers and Ingmar Bergman). Perhaps because he has given us so much, we tend to take his work for granted. But watch "Midnight in Paris," and see if you can’t see why many (myself included) regard him as an American treasure.

—Dave Greiser watches movies on the cheap at the Charles Theater in Baltimore, Maryland, where his St. Mary’s University faculty I.D. gets him a half-price discount. He teaches homiletics and church ministry at St. Mary’s and serves as pastor of the North Baltimore Mennonite Church.