Boring

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Journey to Paris. Watch the sun rise from the steps of the Sacre Couer. Have your midday meal along the Champ Elysee before climbing atop the Arc de Triomphe less than 50 paces away. Catch the last lift up to the top of the Tour Eiffel that evening and reflect on where you've been. If you're like me, contemplative and curious, it is hard not to go from one place to another, gazing back at where you've been (from the highest point of any of these sites, the other two are visible), contemplating the people you've seen in passing, wondering who they are or what their lives entail. Paris, the film, is reminiscent of watching my home videos of my last trip to the City of Lights and focusing on the strangers in the background, strangers I will never meet or see again, yet forever they are captured on my camera. Although the synopsis of this film focuses on the Juliette Binoche character, this is really an ensemble piece, like Altman's Nashville or Short Cuts, or the first two-thirds of P. T. Anderson's Magnolia (which degenerates to fantasy in its final third). Unlike those well-made American films, however, Paris is populated with characters whose intersecting lives feel less than forced. Most of the connections are no more clearcut than the connection you have with the woman on the street for whom you held open a door. And yet, each life is quietly beautiful in its own right, subtle and often unresolved. The film's final image will not so much take your breath away as inspire you to look out your own window, be still, and look for the beauty of your own passing moments.

For anybody who has been following the career of French film maker, Cedric Klapisch (When The Cat's Away,The Spanish Apartment,etc.),this film is a "must see". 'Paris' is Klapisch's love letter to his beloved Paris. Like one of his American influences,Robert Altman,Klapisch's films are ensemble pieces,with overlapping story lines. In this one, we see several Parisian characters who we can easily identify with. There is Pierre,a former dancer,who has learned that he may not have much time left,due to a heart condition. He spends most of his time staring out the window of his apartment,watching life pass by. There is his sister,Elise,who has escaped from a bad marriage,who takes her three children & moves in with Pierre,hoping to somehow cheer him up & try & live with his malady. Other elements include a fifty something historian & professor at the local university (Roland) who has an eye for an attractive student in his class,but is too shy to talk to her up front, so he sends her mushy love letters via text message. Roland's younger brother,Philippe,a well respected architect,who is about to become a father for the first time. Other characters drop in & out of this nicely balanced overview of Parisian life. Klapisch casts his film with the best in French talent that one can conjure up (Juliette Binoche,Roman Dupris,Fabrice Luchini,and the always welcome on screen,Franscois Cluzet). The film's impressive cinematography (with lots of sweeping over head air shots of Paris)is by Christophe Beaucarne. If you got your proverbial groove on with 'Paris,J'taime',check this one out. Spoken in French with English subtitles. Not rated by the MPAA, this film contains pervasive strong language,brief nudity,some sexual content & the aftermath of a horrible automobile accident. Not such a good choice for the little ones (who would probably be bored reading subtitles,anyway)

The film really makes you identify with the characters. It is filmed in a way that not only you get to know them well but feel what they feel. Its well done. I Love Movies that when its over and you are walking back to the car thinking about the film. There are so much we take for granted. So much nonsense we get caught up with. But the truth of it is that you never know what tomorrow brings. Appreciate every single thing we do have and not be so obsessed in what we don't have. Anyway, this movie touches ALL the emotions. Bravo. I highly recommend this film. Hope there is a Part 2 to see the follow up with all. What else can I say besides what is represented in the film is life. The hardships, the difficulties and the confusion but somehow we all survive. Maybe it is family, friends or the brief encounter that gives us enough happiness to carry on. Who Knows?

...if Klapisch hadn't wasted his time on all the plot threads that run through this over-long film. From Karin Viard as the bakery owner with her new helper Sabrina Ouazani, to the overly macho fruit and veg guys (Albert Dupontel, Zinedine Soualem and Gilles Lellouche) with their supermodel day-trippers, there is just too much material for the modest little picture that this really is. Klapisch, I guess, wants to be the Balzac of today's French cinema, and he has much talent--I enjoyed Chacun Cherche son chat and L'Auberge espagnole--but he must be more selective in telling his stories.I took away from this exercise the performances of Fabrice Luchini, the history prof who decides to go into TV work when the fabulous salary is dangled before his eyes (100,000 euros a year!) and François Cluzet as his harried brother, an architect working on a nightmarish housing development (the computerized promotion film of which is one of the highlights of 2008). Honorable mention to Julie Ferrier as the ex-wife of one of the fruit vendors.