Midnight in Paris - Review

A writer's wet dream come true, in Midnight in Paris, Gil (Owen Wilson), a screenwriter and hopeful novelist is holidaying in Paris with his fiancé and her family. When, on a stroll around the midnight streets of the city, he is invited into a car full of people and taken to a party, he quickly realises he has travelled back in time to his image of the 'Golden Age', 1920s Paris. Partying with Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, meeting Ernest Hemingway, Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dali and Man Ray in a bar and having Gertrude Stein critique his writing whilst arguing with Pablo Picasso, Gil is having the time of his life, which continues when he meets, and is attracted to, Adriana, a French girl living in the 20s. When the confusion of living in two moments in time becomes too much and they start interfering with each other, Gil is forced to choose between the time of his life or his real life.

The originality and playfulness of the script is one of the main factors which makes this film as enjoyable as it is. I'm sure Woody Allen had the most fun of his career re-writing historical figures to be just like any other characters in his film, and the relationships between the fictional characters, that is, those made completely from Allen's imagination, and the characters based on important artists and author's, is humbling, showing a humanisation of these names that are drilled into all of us during our time at school. Our knowledge of the figures presented prior to the film is a pulling factor in regards to us wanting to know more about them as minor characters on Gil's journey, and the addition of them to the plot allows Allen to make a point regarding our illusions of these figures as perfect examples of artists and novelists, our idealised visions of their lives are smashed instantly with suicide attempts and affairs, history is well and truly being rewritten.

The Fitzgeralds.

The film opens with a series of shots of Paris, and it seems that throughout the film there is always a constant infatuation with the beauty of the city. Be it the architecture and the cafes, or the creatively minded type of people which Paris attracts, the film never tires of the location, presenting itself, as well as Gil, as a love-stricken tourist. The cinematography is beautiful also, the lavish parties are presented as whimsical and dream-like, making the viewers second-guess the validity of the things we are seeing, therefore by default we appreciate Gil's lack of understanding of his new environment. 

Rachel McAdams plays Inez, Gil's fiancé who is very in touch with reality, her performance is not entirely breathtaking but believable, and the lack of any real interest in her character brings the audience to feel sympathetic towards Gil, a creatively minded person who's not taken seriously by the people closest to him. The most memorable performances are those of the actors playing historical figures. Tom Hiddleston plays a kind F. Scott Fitzgerald, Corey Stoll a witty and drunk Ernest Hemingway and Adrien Brody the eccentric Salvador Dali.

The film breaks down the modern person's created image of past eras and bluntly discourages ideological thinking, emphasising that history continually repeats itself, people, in years to come, will look at our generation as the perfect one to live in, however what Allen states with this film is that each era faces the same problems, we are all human and will always have our flaws, cheating on partners, alcoholism and suicide are eternal traits of our characters. The film is a really interesting watch, exploring both the troubles of creating art in the modern world and also that of the world in which a lot of our inspiration comes from, it is humbling to think about the wider themes the film presents, set in a romantic comedy following a troubled couple holiday in Paris.