Midnight in Paris (2011)

While on a trip to Paris with his fiancé's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight.

Director:

Woody Allen

Writer:

Woody Allen

Stars:

Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kurt Fuller

Won 1 Oscar. Another 18 wins & 52 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Owen Wilson	...	Gil
Rachel McAdams	...	Inez
Kurt Fuller	...	John
Mimi Kennedy	...	Helen
Michael Sheen	...	Paul
Nina Arianda	...	Carol
Carla Bruni	...	Museum Guide
Maurice Sonnenberg	...	Man at Wine Tasting
Thierry Hancisse	...	1920's Partygoer
Guillaume Gouix	...	1920's Partygoer
Audrey Fleurot	...	1920's Partygoer
Marie-Sohna Conde	...	1920's Partygoer (as Marie-Sohne Condé)
Yves Heck	...	Cole Porter
Alison Pill	...	Zelda Fitzgerald
Corey Stoll	...	Ernest Hemingway

Storyline

Gil and Inez travel to Paris as a tag-along vacation on her parents' business trip. Gil is a successful Hollywood writer but is struggling on his first novel. He falls in love with the city and thinks they should move there after they get married, but Inez does not share his romantic notions of the city or the idea that the 1920s was the golden age. When Inez goes off dancing with her friends, Gil takes a walk at midnight and discovers what could be the ultimate source of inspiration for writing. Gil's daily walks at midnight in Paris could take him closer to the heart of the city but further from the woman he's about to marry.

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Plot Keywords:

midnight | 1920s | writer | love | golden age | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual references and smoking

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Facebook [ES]

Country:

Spain USA

Language:

English French Spanish German

Release Date:

10 June 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Medianoche en París

Filming Locations:

Arc de Triomphe, Paris 8, Paris, France

Box Office

Budget:

$17,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$599,003 (USA) (20 May 2011)

Gross:

$56,816,662 (USA) (16 March 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gravier Productions, Mediapro, Pontchartrain Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Woody Allen won a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award for this film. The Oscar was Allen's fourth and the first he had won since Hannah and Her Sisters 25 years earlier. Allen received two Oscar nominations for this movie, the other being for Best Director, they being his 22nd and 23rd nominations. Additionally, this is his first film since Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) to earn a Best Picture nomination.

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Goofs

When Gil and Adriana are walking in Pigalle among the prostitutes, modern 'bumpy' paving stones for blind people can be clearly seen as they cross the road.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Gil: This is unbelievable! Look at this! There's no city like this in the world. There never was.
Inez: You act like you've never been here before.
Gil: I don't get here often enough, that's the problem. Can you picture how drop dead gorgeous this city is in the rain? Imagine this town in the '20s. Paris in the '20s, in the rain. The artists and writers!
Inez: Why does every city have to be in the rain? What's wonderful about getting wet?

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Connections

Referenced in Final de partida: Los premios Óscar (2012)

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Soundtracks

"Charleston"
Composed by James P. Johnson & Cecil Mack
© WB Music Corp.
© Carlin Music Publishing Canada, Inc.
On behalf of Redwood Music Ltd.
Performed by Enoch Light & The Charleston City All Stars
Courtesy of Geffen Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

"We'll always have Paris."

"Paris, France is exciting and peaceful." Gertrude Stein

Welcome to the world of Woody Allen as he has always loved it: nostalgic, romantic, imperfect, and full of hope. Midnight in Paris is one of his finest treatises on the lure and delusions of the past: Like Zelig it depicts other times, like Purple Rose of Cairo it uses magic realism to deal squarely with the present. Allen has another of his surrogates, this time Gil (Owen Wilson),who virtually experiences the past (the twenties) while dealing with the troublesome present.

Gil, engaged to marry Inez (Rachel McAdams), is with her and her parents on business in Paris where he hopes to work on his novel while he is still a successful Hollywood writer. Although she is a materialist who would like him to become wealthy to enjoy the life his parents are used to, he dreams of escaping the hack work of LA and living in the City of Lights for inspiration, just as his idols Fitzgerald and Hemingway did in the roaring twenties.

Well, the twenties roar back to him as he experiences their friendship and the mentoring of Gertrude Stein, among just a few of the many expatriate luminaries he meets through the magic of nostalgia. Just one of the Allen signature touches that make him the equal of great European directors such as Rohmer and Godard is opening the film with music that reflects the allure of the twenties, the romance of Paris, and his abiding love for this city: "Si Tu Vois Ma Mere" by Sidney Bechet combines jazz, the clarinet, the twenties, and Allen with a romantic nostalgia.

Owen Wilson catches the halting diffidence of the typical Allen persona without slavishly imitating him. Yet whatever little duplication Wilson employs endears as he sweetly visits his heroes, falls in love, and comes to terms with his writer's voice and his mismatched engagement. But that engagement is the troublesome present; the past offers the chance to experience history on a human level that only someone who writes for now and reveres the past can do.

The magic and the realism, both requiring hard work from the protagonist, lead to surprising understanding of human nature, the delusion of nostalgia and Paris, and hope for a present that brings love and inspiration.

"For all we know, Paris might be the hottest place in the universe." (Gil)

It's been at least a decade since I have enjoyed an Allen movie this much.