Movies from the Heart—Midnight in Paris

Paris! A magical city that’s been the focus of so many great films. And by the way, if you haven’t been there, it’s well worth the visit—so much beauty, art, culture and great small film theatres that show classic films, and the food, of course! Paris is, always, a breath of fresh air and always very tasty.

My husband and I happened to be in Paris when this film came out. And I can still remember coming out of the theatre, and it was raining—that, soft, very light rain that makes everything glisten—and instead of grabbing a cab or using the Metro to go back to where we were staying, we decided to walk. The romance of Paris in the film continued on that rainy night as we walked to our hotel. Magical.

And that says something about the film. It was able to capture that—which is not easy to do. More about that later.

Midnight in Paris [2011] by Woody Allen tells the story of an engaged man, Gil, a writer, and his fiancée Inez who are visiting Paris. They’re staying at the Bristol Hotel [very chic and very expensive, btw] as are Inez’s parents. Pretty much from the start we see that Inez is a bit bitchy… so, we wonder why he’s with her—or, at least, I did.

Take a look at a trailer for the film.

One night, when Gil is walking back to the hotel, he sits down on some steps on a street that probably looks the same today as it did 100 or 200 years ago. All of a sudden, a horse-drawn carriage comes down the street, full of a group of revelers, and a man leans out and asks him if he wants to come along to the club with them. Looking at them, all dressed in 20s garb, he figures it’s some kind of costume party and he won’t fit in. But the temptation to join this happy group wins out, and off he goes.

He finds himself back in the Paris of the roaring 20s, along with Hemingway and Fitzgerald and all the rest of the gang that was there then. He’s gone back in time and has no idea how this happened.

After getting back to his hotel [see the film to see how!] he tries to convince Inez to come with him, to experience what he did. And she half-heartedly says she will… but she doesn’t hang around long enough… and he once again goes back in time on his own.

Now, in the midst of all of his travels and trials he meets a young woman who has a small shop—they talk… could there be something there?

If you like to write films that travel to other times or other dimensions, take a look at this one. One of the many things I love about it is that it doesn’t go too far, it just uses the time travel to help our character decide what he really wants. And in doing that, the film makes the unbelievable believable.

Next week let’s really go back in time, to Shakespeare’s time, in Shakespeare in Love.

Copyright © Diane Lake

12Jan25

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com