Eighteen arrondissements, 18 histoires d'amour. The idea behind Paris Je T'aime (which goes into limited release May 4) may be a gimmick -- a love story set in the city's various neighborhoods -- but it's hard to imagine a lovelier muse than Paris herself.
So it's no surprise that lensmen like Gus Van Sant, Joel and Ethan Coen, Alexander Payne, and even Wes Craven took the bait. Acting is provided by a phone book's worth of notable names (Maggie Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman and Elijah Wood, Steve Buscemi, Gerard Depardieu and the venerable Gena Rowlands), and the resulting short films run the gamut, from light and whimsical to tender, via bittersweet, and should do nothing to steady the city's sway on the romantic imagination.
Watch the trailer here.
written on Tuesday May 1, 2007
lights,
love,
Paris.
