Paris Details

[Highly rated reviewer]

What does it mean to be happy?

A love letter to Paris, celebrating its fruit markets and warehouses as much as the cafes and sqares and the river Seine. It's centred on former dancer Pierre (Romain Duris) who has just heard that he has a fatal heart disease. In the weeks that he waits for a possible transplant he watches life from the balcony of his apartment, convinced that everyone he sees is happy and carefree - while the film shows a different reality of everyday pressures, problems and loneliness.

It's an ensemble piece moving between a number of characters and relationships: Pierre's sister Elise (Juliet Binoche)with 3 kids, wondering whether she is too old for love; history professor Roland (Fabrice Luchini) who is having a mid-life crisis (and a mad affair with one of students); his brother, an architect who fears that he is merely normal; the divorced staff holder with a crush on Elise.

There are small linking stories, like the bigoted bakery owner, and some plots which are just undeveloped - the illegal immigrant from Cameroun who is obsessed with a french model. But the main stories hang together well and there are some fine performances from the three leads. Romain Duris is always a class act and Juliet Binoche is excellent throughout. However it's Fabrice Luchini who has the funniest scenes, from his flirtatious texting to the wild dance routine with his student lover.

French Cinema at its best...

Beautifully filmed, brilliantly acted, and underpinned by a superb soundtrack, 'Paris' explores 'real' peoples' lives slowly, carefully and above all subtly. Not a great deal happens, and there are no tidy 'endings' 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 and explored that makes the film, because 'real' life is pretty much like this.

At times funny, at times charming and, in the end, quite moving, Klapisch directs the film without reverting to heavy-handed sentimentality or high drama to make his points. And, while a couple of scenes jar, the rest of it flows pretty seamlessly as it gradually and convincingly draws you into these peoples' lives.

Perhaps the greatest credit to the film is that, even though it's two hours long and devoid of any clever plot twists or unexpected surprises to hold your attention, by the end... you really don't want it to end. It's that good.