Paris, Je T'aime: Stories of Love. From the City of Love

This past weekend, after picking up Paris Je T'aime at the video store for about five dollars, I sat down to watch it for a second time with my boyfriend and a visiting friend. I remembered really liking the film when I first watched it during Christmas vacation, but as I watched it again, I started re-discovering what I had loved about the movie the first time around. The concept of a bunch of different directors making short films to combine into one feature was a great idea to me, but a difficult idea all the same for them to pull off, which they did very successfully. The really astounding thing is that all of the stories (one extremely bizzare one being the exception) played very well alongside of each other. It is amazing how well these short films do not clash since they each have independant stories and characters who have no other connection between the shorts except that of the city of Paris, where they live in or are visiting.

Elijah Wood can be seen starring in one of the movie's most unusual, but beautiful tales of love, Quartier de la Madeleine, by Vincenzo Natali (Cypher, Getting Gilliam). Also, Olga Kurylenko, one of the new Bond girls in Quantum of Solace, can be seen in this short as the sensual vampiress who falls for Elijah. I really love how odd and pleasantly surprising this film is considering the other very realistic and believable shorts it plays alongside. I find it quirky, sensual, touching and darkly romantic. The film is very dark and with a lot of blue tones, and the only splash of color is the bright red blood that flows on ocassion. There are sound effects and music, but no dialogue in the short which is another way in which it differs considerably from the rest of the film, other than the vampire theme and how dark and mysterious the look of it is. Here are some stills from the film that I found quite striking.





A neat behind the scenes fact is that Wes Craven has a cameo appearance in the film as the vampire's victim. I thought it was a delightful little film, and I think it would make a terrific feature length movie if someone ever decided to do so. I would totally go and see it if it ever got made, and the theme of a vampire love story would really be a great idea...I really would encourage anyone who has not seen Paris Je T'aime to do so, or if you just want to watch Elijah's film, just check it out on Youtube.

Here are some of my other favorite shorts from Paris Je T'aime:
Quais de Seine by Gurinder Chadha (also directed Bend it like Beckham and Bride and Prejudice), a lovely story about a young French boy who falls for a Muslim girl who shows him the true meaning of beauty.
Tuileries by the Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men, Fargo), a really funny short featuring Steve Buscemi as a shellshocked tourist not looking for trouble, but finding it in the Paris metro.
Place des Victoires by Nobuhiro Suwa (Un Couple Parfait), a beautifully touching film featuring Juliette Binoche as Suzanne, a mother who has just lost her son and is grieving. In a vision, a cowboy on horseback, played by Willem Dafoe (who I believe represents God) shows her that her son is happy and in a safe place.
Tour Eiffel by Sylvain Chomet (The Old Lady and the Pigeons, The Triplets of Belleville), a love story about two mimes who meet in jail and fall in love.
Place des Fêtes by Oliver Schmitz, a sad love story involving a guy who gets stabbed and discovers that his emergency paramedic is a girl he liked and had asked out to coffee.
Père-Lachaise by Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Red Eye), a love story involving an engaged couple and the grave of Oscar Wilde.
14ème Arrondissement by Alexander Payne (Sideways, About Schmidt), about a lonely American lady who travels to Paris not expecting to find love, but find it by falling in love with the city.
And then my favorite of all of my favorites:
Faubourg Saint-Denis by Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run, The Princess and the Warrior), featuring Natalie Portman as an American actress trying to make it in Paris who falls in love with a blind Parisian boy.