Blaine: There are only three movies out of Woody Allen that I like and “Midnight in Paris” is one of them.
Plot(Spoiler Alert)
A novelist, Gil, and his fiancee, Inez, take a trip with her parents to Paris. While wandering the streets of Paris at midnight, Gil finds himself in the 1920s.
Blaine: Woody Allen had always wanted to make a movie in Paris, but it was hard to come up with an idea for a story. Woody challenged himself by asking what makes Paris outstanding. Woody Allen always thinks of romance when he thinks of Paris. Then the title “Midnight in Paris” popped up in Woody Allen’s head and it sounded very romantic to him. Woody Allen would challenge himself even more by asking what happens in Paris at midnight. Then an idea came to Woody’s head where you could wander through the streets of Paris and all of a sudden this car would show up with people asking you to get in and they would take you on this adventure. "Midnight in Paris" expresses the beauty in Paris not just visually, but also through the words Woody Allen has written to describe the place. The film also shows that it is a very special place to be at, especially at midnight. It’s a time traveling fantasy. The casting director thought Owen Wilson should be cast as the character, Gil, and Woody was all for that because he had been a fan of Owen for a while. Owen Wilson’s character, Gil, represents the type of character Woody Allen would play. You can tell by the way Gil talks and acts. Woody was in his mid 70s when “Midnight in Paris” was made and Gil was written as young man. Gil is so alive while exploring Paris like a kid in a candy shop. It’s cool that this guy gets to meet the people he has always idolized who have been dead for a while. My dad says it would be cool if you could go to a parallel dimension and be in the same city in a famous time period. How it happens, that's a mystery, but it’s a magical.
Michael Sheen thought Woody’s screenplay was very intelligent. Michael said you could tell Woody Allen had a love affair with Paris for a long time judging by his screenplay. It was like a love letter to the place. Woody very much enjoyed being in Paris while shooting “Midnight in Paris”. "Midnight in Paris" starts off by showing all different and beautiful places in Paris. My dad says he’s taken a lot of photography shots in those spots. It shows the sights by day and then it turns to night. Woody wanted a warm look for the cinematography of the film. All the exposures had to be on the side of brown, red and yellow. It was easy for Woody to write about real life historians. He would write about them in a satirical way. He wanted the historians to be meaningful, deep and profound but also amusing and entertaining. Woody’s the type of director who doesn't interact with his actors. He basically lets the actors do whatever with their performances. He also passes on notes he has written and they do the talking for him basically.
Inez is the type of girl who is not suitable for Gil because she is too serious and she doesn’t come from the same world as Gil. Inez thinks Gil is losing his mind, believing he is imagining things when he says he went back in time. Woody had wanted to work with Rachel McAdams for sometime because she was in this movie he liked. He had been trying to figure out the right project they could do together and he found it as he was developing “Midnight in Paris”. Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams had worked with each other before on “Wedding Crashers” and Woody Allen hadn’t realized that until after they were both cast. It became a problem for Woody because he was afraid people would think this is just another movie with Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams. In the past, Gil spends time with his kind of people, where as the future he’s surrounded by people who don’t see the beauty of Paris like he does or not as open minded as he is. Of course he can agree on a lot of things with the French who live in the present, like this museum guide, played by singer Carla Bruni, for one. Carla is very popular and whenever they were shooting the film at a public place the paparazzi would be there. It wasn’t the first time the paparazzi would show up on the set of a Woody Allen film because they had a popular celebrity.
Gil meets women who are more made for him in Paris. He meets Adriana in the 20s. Adriana is in love with Gil, but is a little depressed that he is engaged. But Gil really feels something for Adriana more than he does for Inez. Woody Allen said the first person who comes to mind when you think of France is Marion Cotillard. Marion was becoming a super star because of the projects she chose to be apart of and every director has been wanting to work with her. Marion was all in favor of being apart of a movie that supported her own country. A lot of the actors enjoyed working with Woody Allen, except for Marion Cotillard. Marion Cotillard didn’t really connect with Woody Allen on set and she found him odd because she knew something about his personal life that didn’t sound normal, but she tried not to let that bother her because she was there to work.
Adriana learns a secret about Paris she never knew, something that makes Paris more of a special place to be in and that is you can travel through time. Adriana and Gil manage to find themselves in 1890 and she is blown away and living the dream. Adriana loves 1890 so much that she doesn’t want to leave. She chooses to live the rest of her life in 1890, which is a problem for Gil because he knows he is meant to be in his own time period. Gil even explains that he is from the future to Adriana. He can’t be with the woman he has fallen madly in love with. Gil and Adriana say their goodbyes. Paris is a place Gil can not escape whether it’s in the past or present because it’s always been his type of place. Gil calls off the relationship between him and Inez, realizing they are not meant to be together because they are completely different from each other. He hardly has anything in common with Inez. Not to mention they have been cheating behind each other's backs. Inez had an affair with Michael Sheen's character and Gil went back in time and fell in love with another woman. Of course Adriana and Gil were drifting as well, but they both accept it. Adriana is happy living in 1890, Gil will be moving to Paris and he will have a new someone special in his life, Gabrielle, played by Lea Seydoux. Gil only sees Gabrielle a couple of times in the antic shop she works at. At the end of “Midnight in Paris” Gil runs into Gabrielle, offers to walk her home and they learn they both agree that it’s beautiful when it rains in Paris. Looks like they might have a life together.
My rating on “Midnight in Paris” is four and a half out of five stars
