Paris, je t'aime

( 7 )

Overview

Twenty acclaimed filmmakers from around the world look at love in the City of Lights in this omnibus feature. Paris, Je T'Aime features 18 short stories, each set in a different part of Paris and each featuring a different cast and director two segments were produced by two filmmakers in collaboration. In "Faubourg Saint-Denis," Tom Tykwer directs Natalie Portman as an American actress who is the object of affection for a blind student Melchior Belson. Christopher Doyle's "Porte de Choisy" follows a salesman ...
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DVD (Special Edition / Wide Screen / Bonus DVD / Subtitled)
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Overview

Twenty acclaimed filmmakers from around the world look at love in the City of Lights in this omnibus feature. Paris, Je T'Aime features 18 short stories, each set in a different part of Paris and each featuring a different cast and director two segments were produced by two filmmakers in collaboration. In "Faubourg Saint-Denis," Tom Tykwer directs Natalie Portman as an American actress who is the object of affection for a blind student Melchior Belson. Christopher Doyle's "Porte de Choisy" follows a salesman Barbet Schroeder as he tries to pitch beauty aids in Chinatown. Nick Nolte and Ludivine Sagnier are father and daughter in "Parc Monceau" from Alfonso Cuarón. Animator Sylvain Chomet turns his eye to a pair of living, breathing mimes in "Tour Eiffel." An interracial romance in France is offered by Gurinder Chadha in "Quais de Seine." In "Le Marais" from Gus Van Sant, a man Gaspard Ulliel finds himself falling for a handsome gent Elias McConnell who works in a print shop. Isabel Coixet tells the tale of a man Sergio Castellitto who is making his final choice between his wife Miranda Richardson and his lover Leonor Watling in "Bastille." Juliette Binoche plays a grieving mother in Nobuhiro Suwa's "Place des Victoires," in which she's greeted by a spectral cowboy Willem Dafoe. Richard LaGravanese's "Pigalle" finds a long-married man Bob Hoskins turning to a prostitute for advice on pleasing his wife Fanny Ardant. Gérard Depardieu and Frédéric Auburtin direct Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazzara as longtime marrieds meeting for one final pre-divorce encounter in "Quartier Latin." Steve Buscemi learns a lesson about local etiquette in the Paris Metro in "Tuileries" from Joel and Ethan Coen. In "Loin du 16ème" by Walter Salles, a housekeeper Catalina Sandino Moreno longs for her own child as she tends to the infant of her wealthy employer. Elijah Wood stars in "Quartier de la Madeleine," a vampire tale from Vincenzo Natali. Wes Craven presents another fantasy in "Père-Lachaise," in which an engaged young man Rufus Sewell receives romantic advice from the spirit of Oscar Wilde Alex Payne. A postal worker from Colorado Margo Martindale shares her thoughts on her visit to Paris in mangled French in Alexander Payne's witty "14th Arrondissement." Other segments include "Place des Fêtes" from Oliver Schmitz, Bruno Podalydès' "Montmartre," and "Quartier des Enfants Rouges" by Olivier Assayas, which stars Maggie Gyllenhaal. Paris, Je T'Aime received its world premiere at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.
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Special Features

Disc 1 - Making of documentary; 5.1 dolby digital surround; DTS audio; Spanish subtitles; English SDH subtitles; Previews; Disc 2 - 18 behind the scenes featurette; Split-screen storyboards; Theatrical trailer
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Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide - Nathan Southern
Often, it seems that the glories of the omnibus film are all but forgotten. Not only from the obvious standpoint of overwhelming variety in one movie -- variance in tone, mood, theme, directorial style -- but from the standpoint of introducing us to brilliant, interesting filmmakers whose contributions to the cinematic canon we've overlooked, virtually compelling us to chart out new viewing territory. At its best, an omnibus film can function as a giant, multicolored tapestry -- a byzantine mosaic where each tile tells its own resonant story. From a business standpoint, the reasons for the form's decline are simple -- they functioned as a clever way for opportunistic Euro megaproducers to reel in lucrative returns and massive prestige while doling out scant income for their participating directors. As the cinematic art of the '40s, '50s, '60s, and '70s yielded to the more lucrative Hollywood commercialism of the '80s, '90s, and beyond, this form faded slowly from view. Paris, Je T'Aime -- an ode to the City of Lights engineered by executive producer Rafi Chaudry and directed by 18 international filmmakers, each given five to seven minutes to helm a segment set in and around Paris -- poses a direct challenge to this obsolescence, and recalls the film-à-sketch production style at its finest. Inevitably, not everything in the movie works -- in fact, far from it -- but, with one five-minute exception, the film never sinks below the level of engaging, moving, and genuinely interesting. Even when we see something that doesn't quite click, we're never bored. The directors featured herein include such varied voices as Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven, Alfonso Cuarón, Joel and Ethan Coen, Alexander Payne, Nobuhiro Suwa, and Sylvain Chomet. Many tackle the shortened narrative form admirably and successfully, albeit with vastly different strategies. A few such as the Coens, with their tale of a hapless, dorky American beaten senseless by a jealous boyfriend tell a brief narrative with a full story arc; others such as Payne, with his extraordinary glimpse of a geeky, middle-aged American postal worker, and her tourist's-eye view of Paris etch out a character study and establish a perspective in a remarkably short period of time. And a few others seem content to catch a haunting behavioral insight that stays with us but resists an arc such as Salles and Thomas, with their wondrous glimpse of a working-class Brazilian nanny's inchoate longings for her estranged infant. The latter delivers whopping emotional impact, thanks to the co-directors' faith in cinematic language; by merely fixing their camera on the nanny's gaze to an open Parisian window, we can visualize her thoughts and spirit wandering off to be with her baby. The best of the lot, of course, improbably manage to accomplish all three goals in their brief window of time onscreen. Two wax particularly strong: one by Nobuhiro Suwa, another by Oliver Schmitz. The Suwa segment should go down as a classic, with its heartrending tale of a mother Juliette Binoche who loses her little boy, and is given one final chance to say goodbye to him, by a spirit on horseback Willem Dafoe. And another, by Schmitz -- the tale of a homeless man and his final, deathbed meeting with the unsung love of his life -- feels supremely intransigent and ingeniously structured. These segments carry everything one looks for in a short film, or even in a motion picture per se -- to such an extent that an expansion of either would feel superfluous, if not ruinous. Not all of the directors fare so well. A few seem crippled by the shortened running time; despite wondrous content while it is actually onscreen, Bruno Podalydès' opener feels cruelly truncated -- as if it is only the prologue to a tenderhearted, finely felt romance, whose lack of full development leaves us wanting so much more; Isabel Coixet uses heavy-handed voice-over narration to convey a melodramatic story that virtually demands its own full-length movie, with more character arcs and narrative twists than most two-hour features. But only one segment qualifies as a pure abomination: Chris Doyle's infuriatingly pretentious, incoherent avant-garde bit about an elderly eccentric Barbet Schroeder hawking salon products in an Asian district of Paris. Richard LaGravenese's sketch -- an homage to an old married couple -- threatens to become equally unintelligible but is saved, just barely, by the sheer pleasure of seeing Bob Hoskins and Fanny Ardant together onscreen. The film's only other major lapse -- if it can be called that -- is simply the fact that many of the stories could ostensibly unfold anywhere. If they represent thematic variations on the various Parisian neighborhoods where they transpire, those connections are tenuous at best and will fall well outside the radar of most American viewers. Overall, Paris, Je T'Aime represents a treasure chest that yields innumerable rich pleasures and not a few disappointments. And -- like the September 11 movie -- it should sound a wake-up call to resurrect the omnibus form on the basis of art, if not commerce.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 11/13/2007
  • UPC: 687797116246
  • Original Release: 2006

    • Rating:

  • Source: First Look Pictures
  • Presentation: Special Edition / Wide Screen / Bonus DVD / Subtitled
  • Time: 2:45:00
  • Format: DVD

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Paris, Je T'Aime
1. Main Title [1:58]
2. Montmartre [6:06]
3. Quais de Seine [6:11]
4. Le Marais [6:01]
5. Tuileries [6:01]
6. Loin de 16e [5:07]
7. Porte de Choisy [5:35]
8. Bastille [5:35]
9. Place des Victoires [5:44]
10. Tour Eiffel [5:48]
11. Parc Monceau [5:08]
12. Quartier des Enfants Rouges [6:26]
13. Place des Fetes [6:06]
14. Picalle [3:32]
15. Quartier de la Madeleine [2:01]
16. Pere-Lachaise [6:13]
17. Faubourg Saint-Denis [5:43]
18. Quartier Latin [7:12]
19. 14e Arrondissement [7:03]
20. End Credits [9:04]
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Menu

Disc #1 -- Paris, Je T'Aime
   Play
   Scene Selection
   Set Up
      Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround
      Audio: English DTS
      Audio: English 2.0 Stereo
      Subtitles: English SDH
      Subtitles: Spanish
      Subtitles: Off
   Special Features
      At the Heart of Paris Je T'Aime
      More From First Look
         10 Items or Less
         Journey to the End of the Night
         The Contract
         The Proposition
         Relative Strangers
         The Dead Girl
         The Breed
         A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
         In Theatres Fall 2007 and Coming Soon to DVD: King of California
Disc #2 -- Paris, Je T'Aime
   The Making of Paris Je T'Aime
      Montmartre
      Quais de Seine
      Le Marais
      Tuileries
      Loin de 16e
      Porte de Choisy
      Bastille
      Place des Victoires
      Tour Eiffel
      Parc Monceau
      Quartier des Enfants Rouges
      Place des Fetes
      Picalle
      Quartier de la Madeleine
      Pere-Lachaise
      Faubourg Saint-Denis
      Quartier Latin
      14e Arrondissement
   Quartier de la Madeleine Video Storyboard
   Theatrical Trailer
   Tour Eiffel Split Screen Storyboard
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 3.5
( 7 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(3)

4 Star

(1)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(1)

1 Star

(2)

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Sort by: Showing all of 7 Customer Reviews

  • Posted October 1, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    What happens in Paris

    Paris, Je T'aime is a series of seemingly unrelated vignettes, each about 5 minutes long. As the film progresses, connections begin to build. This is a movie about Paris and the way this enigmatic, iconic city effects those who live there or visit, and each of the short segments has a charm of its own. Happy or sad, tragic or hopeful, these characters, whom we have barely enough time to know, make their humanity manifest in all the most important ways. The scenic elements are fantastic, setting mood, and each vignette is a little bit of sweetness or sorrow. Lovely, thought provoking piece of cinema.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted June 7, 2012

    Be warned that the BluRay version of "Paris Je T'aime"

    Be warned that the BluRay version of "Paris Je T'aime" is technically flawed. The standard DVD includes standard English subtitles. But the BluRay version does not -- only English SDH for hearing impaired, so you also see sound descriptions such as "Cat meows", "Door slams", etc. To make matters worse the subtitle font is large and obtrusive. It is an annoying viewing experience. The BluRay video quality is stunning and beautiful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    see it and share its beauty

    you won't fall in love with every single short film but you will fall in love with a few, and that is enough to merit an outstanding rating. after all, those few that do stick with you will stick with you for good. each film presents a unique style and vision, all on the subject of love, be it the first-timer, the rekindler, the eccentric, or whatever. I believe there is a piece in this collection for everyone and the film as a whole is diverse but all the while cohesive in its theme: love. in the end, it's a feel-good film that surely needs to be praised and shared with others, because you can never have too much love in this world!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    Meh

    It's a clever idea, but many of these short films were downright painful to watch. There are a few gems, but overall I'd take a pass on this one.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    Amazing and Original films...

    My friends told me we had to go see this collection of films. They said "Let's go see "Paris, je t'aime!" (I had no idea what they were talking about, and I'm usually on top of new wide, limited, and independent releases). I said on the way in, "It better be good!"------- I was hooked within minutes. Each film has its own style, its own story, and its own director, which makes for a wonderful 2 hours of entertainment. A few familiar faces show up such as actors Natalie Portman, Elijah Wood, Willem Dafoe, and Directors Wes Craven, Alfonso Cuaron, and the Coen Brothers- creating a wonderful blend of genres and styles. I can't recommend this collection more.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 25, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted February 6, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

Sort by: Showing all of 7 Customer Reviews