Midnight In Paris by Woody Allen **FIVE STARS**

[DATo]

Midnight In Paris is a comic and farcical look at a man who goes through a time warp and winds up in the golden age of Paris' left bank explosion of new literature and art. So many people wanted to be in this film that even the First Lady of France at the time this picture was made also has a small part in the film.

Gil Pender is a man who is about to marry a wealthy and waspish young woman from a very conservative family but he feels he may be making a mistake. He wants to be a novelist writing in Paris but his fiancee wants him to become a screenwriter for movies in L.A. (she is very materialistic). One night he leaves her crowd and goes off by himself. He is a little bit tipsy. He is invited to enter an antique automobile at the stroke of midnight by a lively bunch of people and he decides to join them. Everyone in the car is dressed in very outdated fashion and they are all quite energetic and also a bit tipsy. Slowly Gil begins to realize that something is not as it should be.

He is taken to a bar where he finds out that two of the people in the crowd are Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Throughout the movie he goes back and forth through time.

Take a peek:
The piano player is supposed to be Cole Porter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JeRVJA6Sa8
continues ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ5KH0VlkUE

EXCELLENT CLIP: Meeting Salvador Dali (painter), Man Ray (surrealist photographer), Louis Bunuel (Surrealist film maker)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q1V_xjHhLM

This film is overflowing with historical facts pertaining to all of the characters from history and presented in a very comic fashion. For instance Dali actually DID have an obsession with the rhinoceros theme for awhile; Hemingway did make the comment that all American literature can trace itself to Huckleberry Finn; Zelda became a drunk and there are many, many more references to the historical details.

Historical figures who are characterized in the film:

F. Scott Fitzgerald
Zelda Fitzgerald
Gertrude Stein & Alice Toklas
Man Ray
Picasso
Djuna Barnes
Ernest Hemingway
Louis Bunuel
Salvador Dali
T.S. Eliot
Cole Porter
Josephine Baker
Juan Belmonte
... and more.

Anyone can enjoy this film but it will be far richer in meaning to those who are versed in this period of Parisian history.

[Katherine Smith]

I loved this movie so much when I saw it in my film class back in high school. I loved it so much that I saw it two more times and all the historical figures were great. I am a big fan of Woody Allen movies like Annie Hall.

[Amagine]

I've read about this movie in a book about the 1000 greatest films of all time. This movie was on the list. Hopefully I can find it on Netflix or somewhere else. Woody Allen is a literary genius so I'm sure it deserves its high and esteemed reputation.

[DATo]

@Katherine Smith @Amagine

OK, I got a question for you guys (or anyone else who has seen the movie). What do you think was the significance of Gabrielle at the end of the movie? She was the girl he met who ran the street-side kiosk in our time period. The movie ends with him and her walking off into the night as it is raining.

[Amagine]

I haven't yet watched it. I just read that it was one of the best films ever made. When I watch it, I'll come back and have an answer for you.

[DATo]

I haven't yet watched it. I just read that it was one of the best films ever made. When I watch it, I'll come back and have an answer for you.

I look forward to discussing it with you when you do. [:- )

[mehmetakkoch]

I always watch the film again and again, especially, at night. The man, let us call him Woody Allen, leaves her wife and everything in his mind behind and being journeying in the streets of Paris. He meets with his favorite writers in the history and chats with them. Oh my God, what an imagination! Really impressive. In the movie, there was a lady whose husband is Mr. Sarkosz, former president of France. Whatever, it is pretty impressive and inspiring ... 5 over 5.

[DATo]

I always watch the film again and again, especially, at night. The man, let us call him Woody Allen, leaves her wife and everything in his mind behind and being journeying in the streets of Paris. He meets with his favorite writers in the history and chats with them. Oh my God, what an imagination! Really impressive. In the movie, there was a lady whose husband is Mr. Sarkosz, former president of France. Whatever, it is pretty impressive and inspiring ... 5 over 5.

Hello @mehmetakkoch, I think this was one of Woody Allen's best movies. Allen put many many little jokes within the story that I loved. Like ... in one scene Gil is at a party and he is dancing with Djuna Barnes. He then leaves the dance floor and Adriana tells him who he has been dancing with and Gil replies, "That explains why she wanted to lead." Djuna Barnes in real life was a lesbian *LOL* I thought Adrian Brody as Salvador Dali and Corey Stoll as Hemingway were PERFECT for their parts too.

I am happy to find someone else who loved the film! Yes, definitely 5 over 5.

[Amagine]

@Katherine Smith @Amagine

OK, I got a question for you guys (or anyone else who has seen the movie). What do you think was the significance of Gabrielle at the end of the movie? She was the girl he met who ran the street-side kiosk in our time period. The movie ends with him and her walking off into the night as it is raining.

I finally saw the movie and I LOVED it! There was so much historical content in the movie with all the literary and artistic geniuses. I loved the interpretation of them. Hemingway was my favorite. It made me want to go and pick up every single one of his books and read them.

I loved when Gil said, "The present is a little unsatisfying because life is a little unsatisfying." I believe in that line lies the significance of him meeting Gabrielle at midnight. He was under the illusion that he would be happier in the past because he wasn't happy with the present. After all, his fiancee was awful and he wasn't happy in his career.

Gabrielle isn't the past, she's the present. She has an old soul like him and she seems like someone who he would be happy with. She even didn't mind walking in the rain. I think the whole point of the ending was to say that the past is great but there is some satisfaction and happiness to be found in the present. He even had his work complimented by both Hemingway and Gertrude Stein. So he's found satisfaction with his work as well.

It was a really great movie. Woody Allen should do another one just focusing on the 1920s.

[DATo]

@Katherine Smith @Amagine

OK, I got a question for you guys (or anyone else who has seen the movie). What do you think was the significance of Gabrielle at the end of the movie? She was the girl he met who ran the street-side kiosk in our time period. The movie ends with him and her walking off into the night as it is raining.

I finally saw the movie and I LOVED it! There was so much historical content in the movie with all the literary and artistic geniuses. I loved the interpretation of them. Hemingway was my favorite. It made me want to go and pick up every single one of his books and read them.

I loved when Gil said, "The present is a little unsatisfying because life is a little unsatisfying." I believe in that line lies the significance of him meeting Gabrielle at midnight. He was under the illusion that he would be happier in the past because he wasn't happy with the present. After all, his fiancee was awful and he wasn't happy in his career.

Gabrielle isn't the past, she's the present. She has an old soul like him and she seems like someone who he would be happy with. She even didn't mind walking in the rain. I think the whole point of the ending was to say that the past is great but there is some satisfaction and happiness to be found in the present. He even had his work complimented by both Hemingway and Gertrude Stein. So he's found satisfaction with his work as well.

It was a really great movie. Woody Allen should do another one just focusing on the 1920s.

Actually Amagine I may have a ~~~BIG~~~ surprise for you.

Now, I do not claim to be right but listen to the evidence and decide for yourself.

Gil is attempting to become a writer - a novelist. We do not know if he will succeed because the movie does not go into his future so we can never know. When Gil meets Hemingway he is asked by Hemingway if he likes Mark Twain. Gil says he does and even says that "all American modern writing can be traced to Huckleberry Finn". Hemingway actually said exactly that in real life history. So Gil is actually QUOTING Hemingway TO Hemingway. Since Gil is from Hemingway's future he knows everything there is to know about Hemingway because he knows Hemingway's history. Are you with me so far?

Now at the very end of the movie Gil is walking on the bridge at night with the Eiffel Tower lit up in the background. We then hear a bell tolling midnight. After that we hear a female voice off camera with a French accent ...BUT... we do not at first see who is speaking. Well it is that magical time, right ? (Midnight) so we assume since there is the French accent that it is Adriana from the past, but instead it is Gabrielle from the present. He tells Gabrielle that he has decided to stay in Paris. She replies, "I know you will love it here." not "I THINK you will love it here, but I "KNOW" you will love it here. Gil then asks if he can walk her home and maybe stop for a cup of coffee and then he says, "Yeah, but now it is starting to rain." Gabrielle says, "That's OK. Paris is more beautiful in the rain." That is what Gil always says. ... 1) She is quoting him just as he quoted Hemingway .... 2) She appears at the stroke of midnight ... 3) The reason she knows he will like Paris is because she knows his future history.

I BELIEVE THAT - Gabrielle is a fan of Gil who in the future is regarded as a famous author. Gil is Gabriella's Hemingway. She even quotes him as he quoted Hemingway. She appears at the stroke of midnight - the magic moment. GABRIELLE IS FROM THE FUTURE!

What an excellent way to end the movie! We are conditioned throughout the movie to going into the past but at the end someone appears from the future and it is obvious that Gabrielle will stay in our present and share Gil's future just as Zelda shared Scott Fitzgerald's future. Absolutely great ending!

/

[Amagine]

Oh, I never thought about it like that!

I have one question though. The first time that they met was during the day when it was no where near midnight. Is she from the future but somehow chose to live and remain in the past?

Also, I thought the message that Woody Allen was trying to portray was that one shouldn't be under the illusion that living in the past is better. When the past becomes your present, you'll be unsatisfied again. So if Gabriella is from the future then that means she is also disillusioned. That would destroy what I thought the message of the movie was.

So, besides the Gabriella question, I want your opinion on something else too. Was Woody Allen trying to send a message through the movie? If he was, what do you think the message was?

[DATo]

I do believe that he was sending a message. I think the message was that happiness is a state of mind and not affected by outer circumstances. Gabrielle was seen in the daytime because she never returned to the future. Gil could have stayed in the past as well but he chose not to. Despite the allure of Adriana who wanted to go into HER past (The 'Belle Epoch') Gil came to the conclusion that what I said above is true - happiness is not about placing yourself into the scene you want to be in but rather CREATING the scene you want to be in. I think Gabrielle already knows she will be happy with Gil. It is not about her being happy in the 21st Century.

[Amagine]

It's amazing how a movie can have so many meanings and such a complexity to it! I now see why this is considered one of Woody Allen's best works! If Gabriella is from the future, then that answers a few unanswered questions. It also explains the significance of them meeting at midnight in the last scene.

It really was a good movie! I probably would have never gotten around to watching it had you not asked me a question about it. So thanks for that!

[Chitopogi]

I haven't watched Midnight In Paris by Woody Allen yet. But seeing all the rave reviews and comments made by my fellow BookClub members, I think I'm gonna watch it soon. Then I can give you an insightful comment.

[Jessiebessie123]

I loved it found the historical view refreshing and funny, it was artistic.