'Midnight in Paris' and Michael Franks 'Time Together'

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 11:13 pm by Ben Witherington

'Midnight in Paris' and Michael Franks 'Time Together' 2015-03-13T23:13:58-04:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

If you’ve never been to Paris, in some ways the most romantic and right-brained of all Western cities, you have missed a lot. I have to say, it has a lot of charm, though some would say ‘Paris is only spoilt by its being inhabited by snobby Parisians’. Well, like all caricatures, there is some truth in that, but there are also some very nice Parisians who don’t hate Americans on first sight. This movie is a mere bagatelle, or even a short baguette— in an hour and 38 minutes it gives us various things to chew on. And one pleasant surprise is there is no violence, no bad language, no crude jokes, and no gratuitous sex, all the more remarkable since it is about love and imagination. Hooray.

The movie raises the whole issue of nostalgia and reverie— that is the idea that some previous era and place in time was a golden age, and it would have been better to have lived then and there. Of course the movie also admits that this attitude comes from the perceived blandness or harshness or difficulties of one’s present (cue Crosby Stills, and Nash’s Deja Vu, or Joni Mitchell’s ‘Woodstock’— ” we are stardust, we are golden, and we’ve got to get ourselves back to the Garden”).

In one sense, ‘Midnight in Paris’ is a fantasy within a fantasy because, what if one could really go back in time to one’s favored era and place (in this case Paris), and meet someone lovely to love, only to discover that that person in fact has the same fantasy that a previous even earlier epoch was ‘la belle epoche’? Alas, we are never satisfied with the present are we? And so the fantasy love turns out to have the same problem as the fantasizer.

One reason to see this movie is its gorgeous views of Paris. The cinematography is spectacular, and it made me want to jump on a plane to Charles de Gaulle airport right now. This is an excellent date movie as well, its romantic, but it also has a realism to it, for it tells the tale of a man who has settled on marrying someone who, while beautiful, really has little in common with him, even on the major things in life. I have loved many Woody Allen films over the years (some are hilarious—- Bananas or Love and Death, and some are poignant like the Purple Rose of Cairo), but this new movie has a different sort of charm without the earlier whimsy and laughs and witty dialogue of the Allen ouevre.

I have to admit, I am not a big Owen Wilson fan, although his Museum films were pretty enjoyable. He is not really a great actor at all, but in this film he is believable enough as a romantic and successful Hollywood script writer who longs to become a great novelist. Thus, he joins his fiance and her right wing parents on a business trip (her father’s business) to Paris. But in Paris something magical happens at midnight.

No, Mr. Pender, as the writer is called, does not meet Cinderella but a coach from a previous era shows up, he gets in, and suddenly he is in Paris in the 20s meeting all his heroes— Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda, Gauguin, Matisse, Dali, Gertrude Stein (played effectively by Kathy Bates) Latrec, Cole Porter, and I could go on. It’s a veritable literary and artistic Who’s Who that he is suddenly hanging out with. But what he really wants is someone to help him write a better novel, and what Hemingway wants to teach him is that if he will just fall truly in love with someone, the passion will make him forget his fear of death (and lesser failures), at least momentarily.

Writers of course, at least good ones, are often very right brained and live in their imaginations. Allen has had the good sense just to show us that process in a short tale. Gil Pender however doesn’t lose his grip on reality. Indeed, he comes to his senses just in time to get himself unengaged to ‘Miss Wrong’ and to take the brave risk of trying to become a novelist in Paris, writing the great American novel. The best advice he gets is indeed from Hemingway who says that a novel needs to be authentic and real to be embraced by a real audience. Even a romantic fantasy needs to have verisimilitude, or believability to some degree.

The Parisians in this movie in fact turn out to be quite charming, especially the female ones. And it is important to the story that we learn the lesson that know-it-alls as opposed to the humble often scare away their admirers just because of their arrogance. But Gil is not arrogant, he is both naive and a dreamer, and he is in danger of settling for less than the best for his life and work and life partner. Who knew Paris could bring a man to his senses while at the same time firing his imagination? This movie is probably the romantic reverie of the summer, and with a light touch and some humor. A good time will be had by all who view it.

And if you are looking for the perfect frommage to go along with the ‘vin’ of Allen’s film, I can highly suggest you run out and buy the very fine new CD by Michael Franks entitled ‘Time Together’. This is the best album he has done in a very long time, perhaps the very best since ‘Blue Pacific’ (my favorite of all his albums). This album is full of his usual clever lyrics and turns of phrase as well as the full gamut of his styles of music (except the more rock edge of some of his Skin Dive period tunes). We get samba, we get Latino, we get Brazilian jazz, we get a little classic jazz in the style of Bill Evans and the gang. This is the perfect CD for a quiet summer meal with friends (it starts off with several odes to summer including ‘Now that the Summer is Here’). But the reason this frommage especially goes well with the ‘vin’ of that film is the song ‘Samba Blue’ all about love in the summer in Paris, the lyrics of which are in part the following—–

“Sharing a warm baguette/ with coffee with hanesette

We kissed in the Metro/ in love very retro”

“We’re together again/ by the Seine”

“On la grande avenue/me and you…”

You get the picture….. Woody Allen needed this CD as the soundtrack for his film.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

June 23, 2011

The Pasha's Palace

Next Post

June 24, 2011 Roman Remains and Recreations

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz