Paris-Manhattan (2012)

Sadly Over-hyped

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

I used to be French and I used to love Woody Allen - "used" because of a combination of geographical mutation and a vanishing memory... I remember seeing this movie in Sydney a few years ago, so taped it when it was on TV a few days ago. This time I watched it on my own, perhaps because I felt it might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I had a wonderful time revisiting... I did not worry about expectations and really it's one's best way to approach it, not to pull it on a slab and dissect it. (the same goes for so many other movies; it supposes to be fun, and it is. I liked the originality to involve W Allen the way it is done and make a romantic and funny story out of it. I was interested to read one of the comment mentioning that years ago Woody Allen, in "Play it Again Sam", Does a similar thing when he converse with a certain "Humphrey Bogart". I would be surprised if it was just a coincidence. Although I can't say it has any other bearing on this film.

This is getting weird. Yesterday I saw a movie in which Jacques Dutronc played classical piano and co-starred with Isabelle Huppert. The film was made in 1979 and pre-figured Merci, pour le chocolate twenty odd years later in which Dutronc is a classical pianist and plays opposite Huppert. Now, something very similar: Years and years ago Woody Allen wrote a play which was later adapted for the screen. It was called Play It Again, Sam, and the premise was that the lead character, Allen himself, held conversations with, and received advice from, Humphrey Bogart, his idol and, at the time the play was written and the film made, deader than Vaudeville. Now, it is Allen himself who enters into 'conversations' with Alice Taglioni who is his number one fan. Apart from that this is either a delightful rom-com or totally unrealistic rubbish depending on if you go to the movies to be entertained and transported for a couple of hours or to suffer unrealistic rubbish. Me? I loved it. Last time I saw Alice Taglioni she was a hard-nosed cop after a serial killer (The Prey) and before that she was the ditsy blonde mistress of Daniel Auteuil in a Francis Weber gem. This has lots of charm going for it and any film that features Ella singing Larry Hart's standout lyric to Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered over the credits with the verse yet cannot be bad and when a little later the lead actress confesses to 'adoring' Cole Porter what's not to like.

I rarely watch films on planes apart from the small screen, I hate the ridiculous censors applied particularly by aircraft operated from Muslim countries. Anyway it was a long flight, I knew nothing of the film, the title I think I'd heard of, it was reminiscent of course of "Paris, Texas" so I was intrigued. A romantic comedy nice and easy. It was delightful, I was unsure whether it was a 'Woody Allen' film or not but when I discovered that it wasn't it made it even more wonderful that he appeared, little more than a cameo but perfect. I cried with joy, very sweet, light hearted and fun. If you don't enjoy it perhaps you have a wooden heart?

In Paris, the pharmacist Alice (Alice Taglioni) has been an obsessed Woody Allen fan since she was fifteen and has seen all his movies and talks to him alone in her room. When she meets Pierre (Louis-Do de Lencquesaing) in a night-club, she finds that he loves jazz and she believes he is her prince charming. But when Pierre sees Alice's sister Hélène (Marine Delterme), they immediately fall in love with each other and marry each other. Years later, Alice is a spinster that administrates the pharmacy that belonged to her father (Michel Aumont) and believes that movies can heal many diseases. However her father insistently tries to find a husband for her. When the alarm technician Victor (Patrick Bruel) meets Alice, she does not see any future relationship with him. But one day, Victor brings Alice to meet Woody Allen in Paris and the director gives an advice to Alice."Paris-Manhattan" is a delightful French comedy and certainly cult for any fan of Woody Allen. Like the lead actress, I have watched all the movies of Woody Allen and my favorite is Manhattan (but fortunately I have never had a conversation alone with him like she does). When I started to watch the movie, I believed that it was a Woody Allen's film since even the letters in the presentation were very similar to his movies. But when Woody Allen himself appears on the screen, this was the greatest surprise I had. In the end, I loved this great little movie. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Paris-Manhattan"