Midnight in Paris recalls the magic of Annie Hall

Eric Lewis- Chief Copy Editor
2/10/12

One movie nominated for this year’s best picture is Midnight in Paris.
At the risk of sounding like a pretentious ass, I would like to talk a little about the movie’s writer and director, Woody Allen. He is known for, among many other things, his nontraditional romantic comedies. For example, his most widely known movie is likely Annie Hall, which won the Oscar for best picture in 1977.
As a frequent fan of romantic comedies, I can assure you that Annie Hall is quite a departure from the traditional, formulaic romantic comedy in both plot and form. While I am not so bold as to claim that it is as good as Annie Hall, Midnight in Paris reclaims the narrative creativity that sets Woody Allen apart as a filmmaker.
As the title suggests, the film is set in Paris, to which successful screenwriter Gil (Owen Wilson) and his fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams) accompany Inez’s parents, who are there on a business trip. Gil is tempted by the culture of the City of Lights to pursue his dream of becoming a novelist by abandoning his career and bourgeois lifestyle and moving to Paris, like his literary heroes Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald did in the Roaring ’20s.
Accompanying this desire are increasing conflicts with Inez, her parents and her friends, particularly concerning what her friend Paul calls Gil’s “golden-era syndrome,” or the running away from the present to some perceived golden era, which is the 1920s for Gil.
Gil takes routine nighttime walks around the city, and at a particular corner at the stroke of midnight, a classic 1920s roadster pulls up, and revelers invite Gil inside. The car takes Gil to a party at which he meets Cole Porter, the Fitzgeralds, and Hemingway, his heroes. In addition, he meets and becomes infatuated with Adriana, a beautiful young woman who is Pablo Picasso’s mistress and model.
From this point on, Gil struggles to sort through his feelings for multiple women, his desires for multiple lives, completing his book, and whether or not his affection for the Roaring ’20s is truly an escapist golden-era syndrome, often guided by his heroes and new friends from the Paris of the past. Accompanying this conflict are commentaries on intellectualism, the good life and Inez’s father’s conservatism, making the movie entertaining on multiple levels. Also, hilarious, enlightening and compelling cameos of famous figures from cultural history are interspersed throughout. I am incapable of choosing a favorite, but highlights are Hemingway, Salvador Dalí and Josephine Baker (I must admit that I am biased because she is from my hometown, St. Louis.).
If you are interested in modernist literature or art, good romantic comedies (not a paradox) or human emotion, this film is a must-see.