Review: Midnight in Paris (2011)

Midnight in Paris

Rating

Director

Woody Allen

Screenplay

Woody Allen

Length

1h 34m

Starring

Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hiddleston, Alison Pill, Corey Stoll, Adrien Brody, Kathy Bates, Michael Sheen, Nina Arianda, Carla Bruni, Kurt Fuller, Mimi Kennedy, Léa Seydoux

MPAA Rating

PG-13

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Review

There was a time when Woody Allen was one of the most celebrated film writers and directors of all-time with a string of 1970s and 1980s output that would leave many impressed. Midnight in Paris is a return to that era, a time-bending exploration of literary influence, writer’s block, and the nature of inspiration.

In this Paris-set film Allen looks at a struggling film writer, hoping to find clarity in the gorgeous French city where so many of his artistic inspirations called home or who visited with frequency during the Roaring 20’s, a period Allen seems to find himself most at home in (as evinced by his striking and fantastic 1994 predecessor Bullets Over Broadway).

Allen’s films have become increasingly less inspired over the years such that Midnight in Paris was his last great film. Before that, it was Match Point, seven years and six films prior and preceding those was the aforementioned Bullets. Allen is very much an acquired taste. A lot of times, his over-analytic commentary can be a bit boorish, even pedantic. This is perfectly embodied in Michael Sheen’s character Paul in this film. An intellectual who knows everything and regales his friends and non-friends with assertions about the various artistic endeavors they spend time discussing. It’s the kind of broad, boastful bragging that has trademarked many of Allen’s most blatantly belligerent work. Yet, apart from this one character, Allen infuses Midnight in Paris with wit, charm, and genuine laughs, something one would be hard pressed to find in his films for some time.

It’s clear Allen tries to see himself in Owen Wilson’s struggling writer, going so far as to showcase all of his own influences and inspirations, but a far cry from those luminaries has he been in the last thirty or more years with only occasional bouts of creative inspiration on their level. Every character here could be a living embodiment of some aspect of Allen’s personality from the braggadocio of Paul to the incredulity of Gil’s (Wilson) fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams). Even her mistrustful father (Kurt Fuller) carries a bit of Allen’s trepidations with him. Wilson hasn’t been this good in some time and it’s good to see him bouncing back from his unfortunate nadir a few years back. McAdams is passable but far inferior to many of Allen’s great muses, but the film really comes to life in the fantasy sequences as big name actors and lesser known thespians of all stripes come together to play the various figures that populated 1920’s Paris.

Tops of a fine list are Corey Stoll as the unrepentant lover Ernest Hemingway, Tom Hiddleston (recognizable to most now as Thor‘s brother and nemesis Loki) playing here F. Scott Fitzgerald, along with his in-film wife Zelda played by Allison Pill. Kathy Bates is always compelling even in the most mirthless roles, but does her best work in a number of years here as Gertrude Stein. There are missteps however, such as a sorely miscast Adrien Brody as Salvador Dalí, who leads that light roster along with several other no-name lookalikes whose presences don’t seem to add weight to the film other than to drop bounteous names of cultural importance including Pablo Picasso (Marcial Di Fonzo Bo), Cole Porter (Yves Heck), and Luis Buñuel (Adrien de Van).

Midnight in Paris remains a part of another time, not just in its fantastical setting. When the film released, many were able to set aside their issues with the artist in favor of the art, but Allen’s star has faded thanks to his weakening output and that has enabled a modern movement to push Allen aside. If the viewer is able to set aside their personal distaste for the creator, the film is a wonderful sit. If they cannot, then it steadily reminds them of the personality Allen curated for decades and that might just be a bridge too far.