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The most helpful favourable review
The most helpful critical review
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
Worth the wait
My wife and saw this film being advertised on the billboards in Paris last year but missed the opening...as it did not seem to be on general release in the UK we decided that it would bought as a dvd.
We are lovers of all things parisienne and this film captures the colours,the architecture and perhaps most of all the "quirkiness" of French filmaking...all the...
Published 8 months ago by RTough
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
a tribute to the city of paris
the movie has nice visuals. anyone who loves the city of paris will like this film because the director seemed to have filmed it as a tribute to the city. the plot of the story though, like most french films of this type, seemed to have developed slowly. it didn't seem to have much story. it's just like vignettes of different lives of people living in paris.
Published 7 months ago by Kaye
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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
Worth the wait, 18 Mar 2009
My wife and saw this film being advertised on the billboards in Paris last year but missed the opening...as it did not seem to be on general release in the UK we decided that it would bought as a dvd.
We are lovers of all things parisienne and this film captures the colours,the architecture and perhaps most of all the "quirkiness" of French filmaking...all the acting is top drawer and if you are at all a fan of Juliet Binoche add this to your collection...oh I forgot to mention the soundtrack! Stunning and mood capturing..
Ray Tough
Leeds
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
French cinema at its best..., 25 Jul 2009
What is it about French films that makes the best of them so deeply reflective in a way that few American and British films achieve? Maybe it's that France itself is such a beautiful and evocative country, maybe it's that the French have a lifestyle that, for us non-French, appears so stylish and romantic... whatever... but when they get it right they really are in a different class, and "Paris" most definitely gets it right.
Beautifully filmed, brilliantly acted, and underpinned by a superb soundtrack, the film explores "real" peoples' lives slowly and above all subtly. Not a great deal happens, and there are no conclusions to the stories involved - a guy gets diagnosed with a life threatening heart condition, another chap falls in love with one of his students, a lonely single mother and a market stall trader are hesitantly drawn together, and an African dreams of getting to Paris to start a new life. That's about it really. But it's the way that this is all put together & explored that makes the film, and which achieves its objective of trying to capture what Paris is to people who live there or dream of living there - which of course means that its infused with their, often vague, hopes & fears and it has no clear & tidy "Hollywood style" endings... life's not like that.
At times funny, at times charming, and ultimately quite moving, Klapisch directs the film without reverting to heavy-handed sentimentality or high drama to make his points.... in fact, exactly the opposite: witness the fleeting, beautifully poignant shot at the end of the film as the African compares the view on the postcard of Paris that has driven him to make his journey there, and which underpins his hopes for the future, with the reality of it... nothing more needs to be said or filmed to capture what he must be feeling.
Perhaps the greatest credit to "Paris" is that, even though it's two hours long, subtitled (which is never the easiest way to watch a film), and devoid of any clever plot twists or unexpected surprises to hold your attention, by the end of it all... you really don't want it to end. It's that good.
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33 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
An unequivocal masterpiece, 7 Aug 2008
I have just watched it on the big screen at the GFT in Glasgow. Cinema at its finest. The city itself is featured spectacularly and the stories of the main characters are told with warmth and humour in a masterful screenplay. The subtitle translation for English speaking viewers captures all of the subtle pathos and comedy and the soundtrack is sublime. You wait a long time for gems like this.
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20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
Souvent On Ris Pa A Paris, 6 April 2009
There's a lot that can be said about Paris, the city; it's great historical buildings, the landmarks, excellent new and exciting architecture, music, art - really I could go on. OK Paris isn't perfect, it has all the problems of the other capitals, but it's the historic architecture that really makes Paris what it is today, from what it started as, a small village, which has now sprawled into a 20 arrondissent city.
As I have said, Paris isn't perfect, and Cédric Klapisch sets out to show us why, in a very complex - multi persona movie, which can make you dizzy if you loose your place. The lead, Pierre (Romain Duris), is a young dancer who has got a serious and devastating heart condition; he's looking for a donor, but it's only got a 40% chance of working. His sister, Élise has decided to help him (played by Juliette Binoche (Les Amants Du Pont-Neuf)) and helps him with day to day things.
On the other side of Paris, we mainly see people's lives, like an architect, a young student, and a father who's dealing with a loss. But in Cameroon, we see a guy making his way to France.
This film is terribly complex, but very good. I watched it twice, once to get the gist, the second time to actually enjoy the film, so it does have a great come back to factor. Both Binoche and Duris show great potential, but sometimes Duris doesn't seem to be as occupied with the problem in hand, and it feels a bit dreamy - though sometimes people with a life-threatening disease do go into dreams, mainly due to pain or just so the mind can get away from the real issue.
The cinematography is just breath taking - this film has some of the best shots I've seen in ages of Paris, and really did take my breath away. Christophe Beaucarne should have won an award for this work. Even the duller scenes in the factory with the ugly graffiti on the van looks glorious - and I love the 3D world created during the middle of the movie.
This DVD isn't bad, I have to give credit to Optimum/Canal Studios for putting the English subtitles as separate entities - REALLY annoys me when studios think everyone in the UK cannot understand French, it's patronising, but thankfully the team have made it possible to turn them off! Well done guys, please, keep this up!
We're also treated on the audio front: 3 tracks in total, 2.0, which is pretty good, 5.1 and 5.1DTS, which is well mixed and is more expanded. Some people may argue this is gimmicky, but I like the option to watch this on 2.0 on the portable, and then 5.1 DTS on the big TV. Plus through my good speakers this is clear as a bell, I feel like I'm watching this for the first time when it was filmed on location.
Shame there are no other extras on this UK release, hopefully the French DVD has much more on it, I still have to investigate this.
I can't sing the praises high enough for this movie and the DVD, it's glorious and well presented, the dark scenes look fantastic, and the light scenes even better. Now all you need is a quiet moment where you won't be disturbed - and enjoy the marvel which is Paris.
5/5 on all fronts - except for the extras - BUY it!
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21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
A beautiful, warm and enlighting film, 1 Nov 2008
A beautiful film, brimming with humanity. Yes, some of the stories overrun (i.e, the fisherman), but overall, a wonderfultake on life, and all its associated ups and downs. Juliette Binoche was execellent, and truly deserves an ocasr nod for her performance. Some very funny laugh out moments (the kids dancing scene) and sad ones too. This is a must see film. Paris is beautifully shot and acted.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Elegant in its simplicity - human behaviour illustrated in a warming film, 6 Jul 2009
This delightful film explores the life of Pierre, who suddenly finds his life might soon be over as he waits for a heart donation which might not work. Meanwhile, his sister cares for him whilst wistfully searching for love, harbouring some bitterness from previous experiences. Initially, this leaves her somewhat cold, and slightly indifferent to Pierre's bad news, which adds to his sense of lonliness and helplessness.
As a downbeat Pierre views Paris from his balcony, in beautifully shot, atmoshperic scenes, he realises that people take life for granted, and feels sadness and a sense of injustice as he watches other characters "carefree" in the city.
These other characters blend in and out of love, using people, hurting each other, and generally displaying typical human behaviour. We are constantly reminded that they are lucky to be able to enjoy life, albeit with their various problems, whilst Pierre has seemingly little hope for the future.
At the same time, and with a fair degree of irony, poor immigrants from Cameroon try just to get into Paris at all.
Yes, at times the Paris-dwellers and their spontaneous love match-ups seem a little ridiculous, but this is deliberate; in satarising them, it draws our attention more strongly to the irony that we overlook the simple things available to us.
The magic of this film is that it takes well-worn, simple ideas, but presents them in a way which we can easily relate to. We empathise with characters whose problems, mainly in relationships, seem depressingly real, yet we are soon reminded to put things in perspective by the bad luck suffered by Pierre.
There is also a superb score accompanying the film, in particular the downtempo tracks which perfectly capture the mystery and bustle of the city at the same time (I enjoyed the music enough to find out who the artist is and make a purchase).
The messages are simple and deliberately presented in a refreshingly innocent, almost naive manner, creating a charming film.
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19 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
Storytelling woven into a rich fabric, 28 Sep 2008
I, too, have just seen this new movie by the excellent Cedric Klapisch at the cinema, and while I am enthusiastic, I have given it four rather than five stars. Why? Well, it's simply that here the director has taken a large number of individual stories and woven them into a fabric which, while it is rich and varied, the cloth itself has some holes and threadbare patches. The chief reason for this is the failure to sustain the stories sufficiently skilfully. Some narratives disappear, and are picked up hurriedly towards the end; others are given undue prominence, only to be dropped without effective resolution. The editing is sometimes abrupt, where it should flow seamlessly in order to move the film on and maintain our interest. In this regard, the film can be compared, unfavourably, I'm afraid, with the hugely popular but underestimated (in technical terms), "Love, Actually". While Klapisch's movie is much darker, it attempts a similar feat of storytelling, but "Love" succeeds in interweaving quite flawlessly an enormous number of separate threads and sustains the onward momentum.
So, a very enjoyable and thoughtful film, with great shots of Paris and some fine performances by a strong team of actors, but not a five star job this time.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Paris, 25 Jul 2009
I watched this film the other night. It is a kaleidascope of vingettes on people who live near the main character and how their lives entwine with his. Juliette Binoche is the sister of the main actor. She and her children stay with him as he has a serious heart complaint. He is lonely and during the autumn and winter leans on his balcony staring down at the lives of others nearby. he longs for a relationship, and so does she. The film is very funny in parts, especially her visits to the local market and the humour of the stall holders. Tragedy strikes the ex-wife of one of them and leaves a chill over the film when we see the time coming when the lead actor will need a heart transplant - and if it will work. This film is lively, charming and sophisticated. I loved the middle aged lecturer and his crush on a young student which leaves him vulnerable and feeling old. the young student and her friends seem sensible and heartless by comparison. Paris, the City, remains after relationships rise and fall, in its beauty and its architecture - a lovely film Marlene Packwood
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
A good but patchy and confused film, 5 Jul 2009
Paris is a good number of disparate little stories that loosely intertwine. In some cases VERY loosely. There is a central thread running through the story of the two characters shown on the box. The man is sick and spends his time staring out of the window as in Hitchcock's Read Window. Sadly in this he seems to achieve little more than watching a pretty young female.
Its strength is in the characters it creates and the little observations that are spun on them. The amazing visuals of Paris are shown often and add a huge amount to the success of the film.
There's a good film in here trying to get out but the director has tried to be too clever, weave in too many little stories and the film often gets lost in a muddy mess.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
A film like no other, 21 Feb 2009
Just received me dvd last week - it's beyond amazing. Words can even describe the emotion. Love Paris, Love this film. 5*
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