Hi everyone!
We’re back today to begin some Netflix Original film cleanup. Just me today, although eternally grateful for the rescue by One Movie Spouse during yesterday’s review for “Captain Marvel” (Episode #435). Today’s film is a tight little French drama, which hasn’t been faring too well with the critics. I’ll have my review in a bit, but for a few other Netflix Originals from France, check out “Blockbuster” (Episode #026), “I Am Not An Easy Man” (Episode #110), “To Each Her Own” (Episode #199), “The Crew” (Episode #321), “Nothing to Hide” (Episode #336), “The World is Yours” (Episode #345), and “Bad Seeds” (Episode #361).
Here we go!
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Today’s movie is “Paris Is Us” (2019), the Netflix Original French drama directed by Elisabeth Vogler, and written for the screen by Rémi Bassaler, Paul Saïsset, and Souliman Schelfout. The film follows Anna (Noémie Schmidt) and her fast-paced relationship with Greg (Grégoire Isvarine), who experience an existential crisis in the face of near-deaths and terrorist threats, in the form of art house cinema.
No spoilers!
I want to start the review by discussing films for niche audiences. Two, in fact: “Paradox” (Episode #086) and “mother!” (Episode #245). The former film, a pet project from Daryl Hannah and Neil Young, has a niche audience because of its intended audience, mostly fans of either person which come with a mostly positive bias. As an aside, toxic fandom is when the intended audience develops a mostly negative bias. The latter film, Darren Aronofsky’s polarizing take on motherhood, has a niche audience for the type of film it is, an allegorical film that, frankly, requires the audience to think about more than the sequence of events on the screen. And as an aside to the previous aside, toxic criticism is when reviewers that don’t like a particular style of film bring a mostly negative bias.
“Paris Is Us” falls into that latter category of films for niche audiences. The film begins as a somewhat muddled independent relationship film, fueled by attraction and passion, then struggling over time. Anna is on auto-pilot; Greg is climbing the corporate ladder, set against modern Paris. They reminisce about their past and argue about their future, a larger metaphor for Paris as a city, but also set against that city. Their passion is Parisian nightlife. Their love represents Parisian streets. Their fights are Parisian riots. And then Greg misses a plane that crashes and kills everyone on board. Their relationship becomes turbulent, their attachment grows stronger but also more confusing, and Anna is swept into a self-reflective, depressive spiral.
The film takes a hard left in style and approach at that point. Standard independent drama fare becomes reprocessed and recut into montages of captured images, venturing into experimental art house film territory, as an elegantly dressed Anna watches her inner monologue play out before her. It’s like a visual form of slam poetry, pulling freely from the foundational metaphor and pulling in related and disparate themes that ask more questions than can be answered with the short running time. Art house film fans will appreciate the film technique and themes. Depressives will know and understand the character’s emotional struggles, but only if they appreciate the technique. And that’s a big ask for the average moviegoer, and for the average movie critic, to appreciate. But for a depressive art house film fan like myself, well, I liked it a great deal.
“Paris is Us” (2019) follows a Parisian couple as they navigate their lives against the backdrop of modern Paris. The film utilizes interesting editing techniques to transform a bare bones relationship drama into a larger metaphor for Paris, and perhaps urban life in general. Fans of art house cinema, heavy on metaphors and experimental technique, should definitely experience this film. Everyone else might want to do the same, but head in with an open mind and abandon any hope of a standard storyline.
Rotten Tomatoes: 43%
Metacritic: NR
One Movie Punch: 8.2/10
“Paris Is Us” (2019) is rated TV-MAand is currently playing on Netflix.
