Midnight in Paris
Midnight in Paris is a charming film that celebrates nostalgia, romanticism and Paris. The protagonist Gil Pender, Hollywood-screenwriter-turned-aspiring-novelist, stumbles upon a way to time-travel to 1920s Paris, an era that enthuses him. Night after night, he re-visits the past at midnight, drawn deeply to his encounters and exchanges with literary and art giants who lived in and were inspired by Paris before him. Gil has more reason to keep returning to the past after meeting the alluring Adriana, who understands him and his work, and whom he grows enamoured of.
Owen Wilson, a familiar face in action flicks and mainstream comedies, puts in a surprisingly convincing turn as Gil. He pulls off with ease the different emotional facets needed of Gil, from the sense of wonder his encounters bring, the tenderness that surfaces when he’s with Adriana, to a sense of anticipation that wells up in him while roaming the streets of Paris for inspiration. Watching Wilson wander the cobblestone streets of Paris also brings to mind Ethan Hawke in Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. They wind through quaint streets, their surroundings change as much as their encounters change them, the corners they turn mirror the interesting turns their lives take, and they find their lives not quite the same as before.
Director Woody Allen blends time travel with nostalgia to delightful effect in a film so light, breezy and warm. Seeking nostalgia and finding inspiration and comfort from the past, as Gil did, could have easily been cast, dismissed even, as being overly sentimental, silly and indulgent. Instead, the film appears to say, “By all means, re-visit the past as much as you want. Indulge in it. Learn. Be inspired. If you need to, go ahead and escape from the present to the past. Just remember you live in the present and what you have is the present. Don’t forget to return.”
Adriana, like Gil, has desires and dreams that she feels can’t be fulfilled by the society and times she lives in. Her discontent with the present, 1920s Paris in her case, pushes her to escape deeper into the past, and her decision challenges Gil to question the place of the past and the present in his life.
Woody Allen's latest film, a magical stroll through the enchanting city of Paris, suggests that while the past holds fantasies and nostalgia that offer solace from the present, there is magic and promise to be found in the present, as seen by what Gil encounters in the last scene, an encounter that occurs not in the past but in the present.