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Fabrice Luchini, François Cluzet, Juliette Binoche, Romain Duris, Xavier Robic

Pierre, a professional dancer, suffers from a serious heart disease. While he is waiting for a transplant which may (or may not) save his life, he has nothing better to do than look at the people arou...( read more  read more... )nd him, from the balcony of his Paris apartment. When Elise, his sister with three kids and no husband, moves in to his place to care for him, Pierre does not change his new habits. And instead of dancing himself, it is Paris and the Parisians who dance before his eyes.

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68% liked it

10,938 ratings

Critics

67% liked it

61 critics

R, 2 hr. 10 min.

Directed by: Cédric Klapisch

Release Date: February 8, 2008

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DVD Release Date: March 10, 2010

Stats: 865 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (865)

  • her69eyes
    November 14, 2009
    her69eyes
    "Paris", the latest effort by French writer-director Cedric Klapisch, is an almost shamelessly breezy work. It's characters coast in and out through the lush Parisian visuals and by the end of the film you're struggling to figure out what the point of it all was. That being said,...( read more) however, meandering or not - the people on screen are simply pleasant to spend time with. We may not get entirely satisfactory conclusions, and a few of the minor characters are given so little time that they serve only as distractions, but watching the story unfold is nevertheless welcoming.

    Pierre (Romain Duris), a professional dancer in his 30's, has been diagnosed with a severe heart defect. He will be dead within a year without a heart transplant, and even with the surgery he only has a 40% survival rate. His older sister, Elise (Juliette Binoche), decides to move into his apartment with her kids in order to take care of him. It's a fitting job for Elise - she makes her living as a social worker.

    Spending what he believes to be his last days peering through his window, Pierre spots a gorgeous student, Laetitia (Mélanie Laurent, from "Inglourious Basterds"), in an adjacent apartment complex. Another man, her 50-something professor, Roland (Fabrice Luchini), has also had his eye on her - he's been sending her highly erotic text messages and watching her respond to them from a cafe across the street. His younger brother is Philippe (François Cluzet, the Dustin Hoffman dead ringer from "Tell No One"), who doesn't understand Roland's sadness.

    There are a handful of characters i've neglected to mention - not only for space restraints, but because they're used sparingly throughout the film. Klapisch's screen is simply too crowded to care for them all - the audience isn't given enough time to get to know each face.

    What makes "Paris" so entertaining is not just the gorgeous city, but the terrific cast. Fabrice Luchini, playing a self-admitted cliche, is marvelous - excelling in both the film's darkest moments and delivering the biggest laughs.

    Although "Paris" can't figure out what to do with all of it's narrative threads, I found it to be a perfect cinematic comfort food. It's enormously charming and involving - a beautifully acted, if uneven, effort.
  • EarthlyAlien
    November 6, 2009
    EarthlyAlien
    "Paris. No one's ever happy. We grumble. We enjoy that."

    A sort of cinematic tourist brochure, Cédric Klapisch's Paris had all the potential to be a spiritual follow-up to the fabulous Paris, je t'aime. Unfortunately, it feels a bit uneven. Still, considerin...( read more)g how much I adore that film, I think my expectations were a little too high. Klapisch (the French auteur whose previous L'Auberge Espagnole remains one of my favourite films) still crafts a heart-warming exploration of the lives, loves and neighbourhoods of the City of Lights. Or, more appropriately, that romantic Paris of our imagination.

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    Opening with a head-spinning montage of its main players, we meet Romain Duris in the role of Pierre, a cabaret dancer awaiting heart surgery. Juliette Binoche plays Élise, his social-worker sister who moves in to care for him. There's also the aging and cynical History professor Roland, played by Fabrice Luchini, who falls in love with one of his students, the tempestuous Laetitia (Mélanie Laurent, who'll be seen soon in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds) and an assortment of working-class Parisians falling in and out of amour.

    As the film plays out the lives and locales of these people become intertwined, often tenuously, although Klapisch has the good sense not to force the point. And the film is as much about Paris' neighbourhoods as its protagonists: we visit the beautiful Sacré-Coeur, Père Lachaise, the Eiffel Tower and numerous other iconic locations. We also travel to lesser-known districts, including Rungis, a colossal market of fruit crates and meat carcasses. Even these blue-collar suburbs are bathed in a deceptively warm glow by cinematographer Christophe Beaucar.

    While the entire cast performs admirably, the film's stand-out performance comes from Duris, who gives Paris its emotional heart. He also acts as our tour guide, observing goings-on from the window of his apartment. "I watch other people live. I wonder who they are, where they go. They become heroes in my little stories," his character says at one point. Binoche is her usual great-self and she even has a little, subtle striptease scene in which she's as gorgeous and sexy as she was twenty years ago.

    As is the nature of any multi-character cavalcade, the film suffers from a lack of exposition. Characters are introduced and just as quickly dropped. A plot line regarding a Cameroonian's attempt to illegally make his way to France shows great potential, but is frustratingly underdeveloped. Fortunately, Duris is there as the film's glue, pulling the picture back together whenever it threatens to fall apart. While it might lack a certain emotional gravitas, Paris is nonetheless a light-hearted and satisfying ode to the City of Love.
  • Parannoyed
    August 10, 2009
    Parannoyed
    Waaaaay too long for what could easily have been just over one hour long.
    Images are crystal clear and absolutely breath-taking, though.
    Romain Duris owns this film. Apart from his performance, this remains rather bland for my taste.
    Superb ending, although I'm not sure it's b...( read more)ecause I was eager to finish the film or because it actually was, indeed, poetic and inspiring.
    Briefly, this only inspires mixed feelings in me.
  • patrickstar04
    January 27, 2010
    patrickstar04
    An interesting movie worth watching if only for the snapshot of life in Paris. Beautiful.
  • reelinspiration
    January 26, 2010
    reelinspiration
    This touching film brims with hope and life.
  • vinnynasso
    October 10, 2009
    vinnynasso
    Broody bourgeoisie
    Meandering nattering
    C'est la vie I guess
  • josemariamador9
    September 12, 2009
    josemariamador9
    tres bon....le mieux opendant beaoucoup de temp...
  • weerpk
    September 11, 2009
    weerpk
    yah its nice production
  • pecu
    September 9, 2009
    pecu
    i love ur program keep it up
    thanks
    uchechi
  • hendrymb07
    September 5, 2009
    hendrymb07
    love movie?????? hmmm....

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