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COM 329, Spring 2013

Paris, Je T’Aime (Paris, I Love You), 2006

Anthology film; its structure:

Segment / Arrondissement / Director / Writer / Description / Actors
1: Montmartre / XVIIIe arrondissement / Bruno Podalydès (France) / A man parks his car on a Montmartre street and muses about how the women passing by his car all seem to be "taken". Then a woman passerby faints near his car, and he comes to her aid. / Bruno Podalydès, Florence Muller
2: Quais de Seine / Ve arrondissement / Paul Mayeda Berges (U.S.) and Gurinder Chadha (U.K.; Bend it Like Beckham, 2002; Bride and Prejudice, 2004) / A young man, hanging out with two friends who taunt all women who walk by, strikes up a friendship with a young Muslim woman. / Cyril Descours, Leïla Bekhti
3: Le Marais / IVe arrondissement / Gus Van Sant (U.S.; My Own Private Idaho, 1991; Good Will Hunting, 1997; Milk, 2008) / A young male customer finds himself attracted to a young printshop worker and tries to explain that he believes the man to be his soulmate, not realizing that he speaks little French. / Gaspard Ulliel, Elias McConnell, Marianne Faithfull
4: Tuileries / Ier arrondissement / Joel and Ethan Coen (U.S.; Fargo, 1996; The Big Lebowski, 1998; No Country for Old Men, 2007) / A comedy in which an American tourist waiting at the Tuileries station becomes involved in the conflict between a young couple after he breaks the cardinal rule of avoiding eye contact with people on the Paris Metro. / Steve Buscemi, Axel Kiener, Julie Bataille
5: Loin du 16e / XVIe arrondissement / Walter Salles (Brazil; The Motorcycle Diaries, 2004) and Daniela Thomas (Brazil; Midnight, 1998) / A young immigrant woman sings a Spanish lullaby (“Que Linda Manita”) to her baby before leaving it in a daycare. She then takes an extremely long commute to the home of her wealthy employer (whose face is not seen), where she sings the same lullaby to her employer's baby. / Catalina Sandino Moreno
6: Porte de Choisy / XIIIe arrondissement / Christopher Doyle (Australia; Cinematographer, Chungking Express, 1994; In the Mood for Love, 2000; Hero, 2002) / Doyle, Rain Kathy Li (China; U.K.), and Gabrielle Keng Peralta / A comedy in which a beauty products salesman makes a call on a Chinatown salon run by a woman who proves to be a tough customer. / Barbet Schroeder, Li Xin
7: Bastille / XIIe arrondissement / Isabel Coixet (Spain; The Secret Life of Words, 2005; Elegy, 2008) / Prepared to leave his marriage for a much younger lover, Marie Christine, a man named Sergio instead decides to stay with his wife after she reveals a terminal illness - and he rediscovers the love he once felt for her. / Leonor Watling, Sergio Castellitto, Miranda Richardson
8:Place des Victoires / IIe arrondissement / Nobuhiro Suwa (Japan) / A mother, grieving over the death of her little boy, is comforted by a magical cowboy. / Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Martin Combes
9: Tour Eiffel / VIIe arrondissement / Sylvain Chomet (France; The Triplets of Belleville, 2003; The Illusionist, 2010) / A boy tells how his parents, both mime artists meet in prison and fall in love. / Paul Putner, Yolande Moreau
10: Parc Monceau / XVIIe arrondissement / Alfonso Cuarón (Mexico; Y Tu Mama Tambien, 2001; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, 2004; Children of Men, 2006) / An older man and younger woman meet for an arrangement that a third person ('Gaspard'), who is close to the woman, may not approve of. It is eventually revealed that the young woman is his daughter, and Gaspard is her baby. The film was shot in a single continuous shot. When the characters walk by a video store, several posters of films by the other directors of Paris, je t'aime are visible in the window. / Nick Nolte, Ludivine Sagnier
11: Quartier des Enfants Rouges / IIIe arrondissement / Olivier Assayas (France; Clean, 2004) / An American actress procures some exceptionally strong hashish from a dealer whom she gets a crush on. / Maggie Gyllenhaal, Lionel Dray
12: Place des fêtes / XIXe arrondissement / Oliver Schmitz (South Africa; Life, Above All, 2010) / A Nigerian man dying from a stab wound in the Place des fêtes asks a female paramedic for a cup of coffee. It is then revealed that he had fallen in love at first sight with her some time previously. By the time she remembers him, and has received the coffee, he has died. / Seydou Boro, Aïssa Maïga
13: Pigalle / IXe arrondissement / Richard LaGravenese (U.S.; A Decade Under the Influence, 2003; P.S. I Love You, 2007) / An aging couple act out a fantasy argument for a prostitute in order to keep the spark in their relationship. / Bob Hoskins, Fanny Ardant
14: Quartier de la Madeleine / VIIIe arrondissement / Vincenzo Natali (Canada; Splice, 2009) / A young backpacker tourist falls in love with a vampiress. / Elijah Wood, Olga Kurylenko
15: Père-Lachaise / XXe arrondissement / Wes Craven (U.S.; A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984; Scream, 1996; Music of the Heart, 1999) / While visiting Père Lachaise Cemetery, a young woman breaks up with her fiancé, who then redeems himself with the aid of advice from the ghost of Oscar Wilde. / Emily Mortimer, Rufus Sewell, Alexander Payne
16: Faubourg Saint-Denis / Xe arrondissement / Tom Tykwer (Germany; Run Lola Run, 1998; Cloud Atlas, 2012) / After mistakenly believing that his girlfriend, a struggling actress, has broken up with him, a young blind man reflects on the growth and seeming decline of their relationship. / Natalie Portman, Melchior Beslon
17: Quartier Latin / VIe arrondissement / Frédéric Auburtin (France; Asst. Director, The Man in the Iron Mask, 1998) and Gérard Depardieu (France; Actor, The Last Metro, 1980; The Return of Martin Guerre, 1982; The Man in the Iron Mask, 1998; / Gena Rowlands (U.S.; Actor, A Woman Under the Influence, 1974; Night on Earth, 1991; The Notebook, 2004) / A separated couple meet at a bar for one last drink before the two officially divorce. / Ben Gazzara, Gena Rowlands, Gérard Depardieu
18: 14e arrondissement / XIVe arrondissement / Alexander Payne (U.S.; Sideways, 2004; The Descendants, 2011) / Payne and Nadine Eid / Carol, a letter carrier from Denver, Colorado on her first European holiday, recites in rough French what she loves about Paris. / Margo Martindale