If Woody Allen were 40 years younger, I can sense him itching to get in front of the camera again for his latest film “Midnight in Paris.”
This time around, he seems to address his critics’ pleas over the last 20 years for him to simply return to the golden age of film making he had in the ‘70s and ‘80s and responds by quelling his own neuroses of nostalgia by optimistically looking towards the future.
He does so in a film dripping with love for his own nostalgic influences and styles. “Midnight in Paris” is classic Allen from the first title card. The opening shots recall “Manhattan” in every detail but the black and white. It stars Owen Wilson as a spot-on Woody Allen surrogate and Michael Sheen (sporting a convincing American accent) in the Alan Alda or Max von Sydow pompous intellectual role common throughout all of his classics.
But then the film surprises us. Wilson’s Gil, a successful screenwriter with ambitions to complete a novel, wanders off drunk while on vacation with his wife Inez (Rachel McAdams). He dozes in a small plaza and at midnight encounters a classic Peugeot that whisks him away to a party in the 1920s.
It’s the perfect time he dreamed of complete with his idols Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Cole Porter, art critic Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Luis Bunuel and more.
You can just sense Allen having a ball sitting at the writing table or behind the camera, reveling in the awkward bask of meeting your own idols, especially ones that have been dead for years. His literary and artistic references are as much for him as anyone, but he imbues in the script such a natural, delightful charm and congenial tone that we’re in love with the city and the time period as much as he is.
In that same way, it matters little how obscure his “Viridiana” nod is or how silly the time travel conceit is. “Midnight in Paris” is unconcerned with historical accuracy, explanation about why Gil sees what he does or the harsher reality that would likely develop between Gil and Inez. Instead, Allen’s goal is merely to have fun with his characters, allowing them to speak in quotes, name drops and figurative winks to the audience. And in it’s effortlessness, it’s lovely.
The performances simply emanate from Allen’s rich and colorful characters. Marion Cotillard plays Gil’s early 20th Century love interest with shimmering beauty and grace. Adrien Brody steals his one cameo scene as surrealist painter Salvador Dali. Tom Hiddleston, who seemed uncomfortable and forgettable as the villain in “Thor,” is right at home in this period piece as F. Scott Fitzgerald. And Corey Stoll deserves a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his gutsy and manly portrayal of Hemingway.
To sum up Allen’s film, here are just a few classic Hemingway quotes:
“That is what we are supposed to do when we are at our best – make it all up – but make it up so truly that later it will happen that way.”
“Courage is grace under pressure.”
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”
“Midnight in Paris” is completely silly and fictional, but because it is written from Allen’s heart, it feels so authentic, lovely and true. He’s been under pressure by critics for years if not decades, and he courageously made a personal film with the utmost grace. And now that he has taken us through this cinematic journey of Paris, here is a film so charming, jubilant and alive that it will stay with me like the moveable feast it is.
4 stars
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