Go backBack to selection

Midnight in Paris

by
in
on Oct 24, 2012

Woody Allen reaffirms his comedic brilliance in his latest film, Midnight in Paris. Beginning with a montage of cityscapes similar to that of “Manhattan,” Allen sets the tone for a film about a comparable admiration for a city. This time, he turns his sights to the “City of Light” where the legends of its golden age come back to life. Gil (Owen Wilson) is a disillusioned Hollywood screenwriter looking to revive his dreams of becoming a great novelist. On vacation with his fiancé (Rachel McAdams) and her well-off conservative parents, he endures various family outings while waxing nostalgic about the days of “The Lost Generation.” When an old friend of his fiancé’s, an insufferable pedant played by Michael Sheen, encroaches upon their evenings, Gil removes himself and strolls the streets of Paris, not knowing that at midnight the figures he so romanticizes will sweep him away to their former days of glory. With the fantastical touch of The Purple Rose of Cairo and the gleeful pessimism of Annie HallMidnight in Paris is a welcome addition to Allen’s sprawling body of work.

© 2024 Filmmaker Magazine. All Rights Reserved. A Publication of The Gotham