In collaboration with PASSIONS, VOICE OF ASIA is proud to present timeless articles from the archives, reproduced digitally for your reading pleasure. Originally published in PASSIONS Volume 44 in 2011, we present this movie review on Midnight in Paris.
Director: Woody Allen
Starring: Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams
A delightful ride from beginning to end, Midnight in Paris delivers all the allure the title connotes – romance, fantasy, mystery and above all, magic. The film opens with an extended montage of Parisian tourist landmarks that show audiences that in The City of Lights anything can happen. That is certainly the attitude of Gil (Wilson), a perpetually dissatisfied Hollywood screenwiter who tries to reinvigorate his youthful dreams of literary glory on a trip to Paris with his fiancé Inez (McAdams) to meet her parents. The couple take part in various soirees in Paris accompanied by Paul (Michael Sheen), Inez’s pretentious professor who is in Paris for a lecture. Refusing an outing invitation with Inez and Paul one night, a dejected Gil takes a lonely walk along the empty streets of the city. Somewhere, a clock strikes midnight. And then – in a swathe of glittery dresses, cigar smoke and a classic motorcar, the magic happens.
Gil is swept into the glamorous world of 1920s France, where he encounters the charming Adriana (Cotillard) and strikes up a friendship with her. By happening to share his love for Salvador Dali, Ernest Hemmingway and Pablo Picasso, Adriana inadvertedly assists Gil in finding his footing as a novelist.
