Midnight in Paris

"Forgive me if I tend to romanticize the past"

The above line was spoken early on in Woody Allen's 1987 film, Radio Days, but it could just as naturally fit his latest film, Midnight in Paris. One of his best films in years, it is a literate and funny, yet quite often frothy and light meditation on nostalgia itself, and the need for people to romanticize certain periods in time, either from their own past, or a point in the world's history that is looked back on with fondness. The argument that Allen seems to be making here is that although living in the past may cost us our present or even our future, it can also be useful in artistic creation, as long as we do not forget the here and now.

As is usually always the case in Allen's films, the lead character represents his voice, and in this case, that voice is provided by Gil Pender (Owen Wilson, quite charming here). Gil has had much success working as a screenwriter in Hollywood, but he has grown bored with writing blockbusters, and wants to write a deeply personal novel that he feels he will be truly remembered for. Gil's favorite time in history is Paris in the 1920s, when great American writers thrived and found creative inspiration in the city. This love for the past has completely washed over Gil as he vacations in Paris with his materialistic fiance, Inez (Rachel McAdams), and her wealthy and conservative-minded mother (Mimi Kennedy) and father (Kurt Fuller). Gil just wants to get lost in the city and let inspiration fuel him, while Inez and her parents would rather shop, and listen to the pretentious ramblings of a pseudo intellectual friend (Michael Sheen). One night, Gil manages to separate himself from the group, and while he wanders the streets of Paris alone, something happens to him when the clock strikes midnight.

For reasons the movie wisely does not even try to explain, whenever Gil is standing in a certain part of the city at the stroke of midnight, an old car picks him up and magically whisks him away back in time to meet his literary and artistic heroes, including Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll), F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston), T.S. Eliot (David Lowe), Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates), Cole Porter (Yves Heck), and many others. The movie is right to take a whimsical and playful tone to the events that unfold, as any attempt to rationalize this material would cause it to fall flat. In this romanticized vision of 1920s Paris that Gil visits every night, he gets to share his thoughts on writing with some of his favorite minds, as well as get their thoughts on his own work. He spends his nights wrapped in his own personal fantasy, and his days working on his novel, and doing his best to avoid Inez and her family. The more time he spends in the past, he finds himself drawn to a woman named Adriana (Marion Cotillard). When he meets her, she is involved with Pablo Picasso, but they are soon brought together by common bonds, including a love of the past, as Adriana herself dreams wistfully of a time before she was born as well.

It's not hard to figure out the message that Allen is bringing forth in Midnight in Paris, but he does it with such wit and intelligence, the obviousness of the piece does not really matter. The whimsical tone sets us in the proper mood, and realize that what we are watching is essentially a fairy tale. The movie is also smart with its playful sense of humor, from Gil's observations on the people he is meeting, to how these famous writers and artists respond to some of his more modern ideas. Allen has often shown a gift for combining the intelligent with the fantastic and whimsical, and it's no more apparent here. This is also probably his most beautifully shot film, thanks to cinematographer Darius Khondji, who shoots Paris in such a magical light, that it's easy to believe that a man could be transported back in time on a simple street corner.

The biggest surprise here, I think, is Owen Wilson, who does not initially seem like the ideal choice to represent Allen. However, Wilson does manage to get some of Allen's classic mannerisms down, without making it seem like he's doing an impression. This is a nuanced and thoughtful comic performance, and is some of the best work he's done in a while. There are plenty of stand outs in the cast of people he meets in his journey to the past, including a very warm Marion Cotillard in the lead female role, Kathy Bates giving a very wise and funny performance as Gertrude Stein, and Corey Stoll as an appropriately stoic Hemingway. If some of the historical figures come across as caricatures, perhaps that is the intention, given the romanticized nature of the story itself.

Though simple in concept and message, Midnight in Paris manages to resonate, thanks to Allen's thoughtful screenplay. This is a frequently hilarious and often quite enchanting film, and while some may view its simple nature as a downfall, I see it as part of what makes the film work as a fairy tale for the literary set. This is a wonderful movie, and the first film to earn the honor of being one of the great movies of the year.

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