Paris kann warten

I expected a lot after reading the synopsis but was highly disappointed after watching the movie. There was an excellent story-line and beautiful landscapes with possibly romantic sequences but despite Diane's good performances, the movie doesn't inspire anything substantial. Main reason is the absence of that spark between the two. Diane is a lovely actress and I would always love to see her in any character which she always does well. But something was missing and she doesn't get the same enthusiasm from the opposite character to show the vibrancy of their connection. Viard is a charming actor and tries hard but he doesn't have the so called Frenchman's sexual flare! He rather looks like an average bus driver to me, not an eager, romantic and intimate kind of a person. I would have expected them to have an intimate relationship halfway through the movie but both looked like not having enough energy or that spark to get intimate.

I wouldn't say I wasted my time but expected more and got disappointed would be more accurate to put it in a nutshell.

So own my way to posting this, I discovered that the director, Eleanor Coppola is 80 years old and this is her fist feature narrative. I like that. I assumed that Eleanor was some new 20- something year old Coppola getting into the family business, but as it turns out she's been in the biz along side her hubby Francis Ford for over 5 decades. I mean, this may be her first narrative but the film game an'it new to her (You could probably say that about any Coppola at any age).

Paris can wait was what I like to call a slow burn. It's a great movie that takes it's time getting to the point but it's a very enjoyable romp getting to that point.

And now I'm seeing something about the film I've never seen before. Similar to her daughter, Sofia's film Lost in Translation, the film is about the wife of a film producer who is far too busy to spend time with his wife as he's getting a movie made. She's unable to fly do to ear problems so the husband has one of his employees drive her from Cannes to Paris, and he takes the scenic route about it. Somewhere in this story is a lot of real life I'm sure.

The movie is not for everyone, I would say. I can see that appeal for women who know exactly what it's like to be in a relationship with a man married to his job, but for the most part, I find the movie concentrates or centers around the food of France a lot. Lots of really cool scenes of Diane Lane and her co-star, Arnaud Viard sharing meals with each other, and the meals look great. Far better than the scenery of France. I must admit, I was expecting France to look far more beautiful than it does in this movie, but I guess what Eleanor thinks of this road trip is different than what I was expecting (But what do I know I'm no Coppola).

You know what was great to look at? Diane Lane. So beautiful. I feel like the word MILF does not go with the elegance and grace she brought to the performance. Perhaps Cougar? Either way, smoking hot.

It's a very classically done comedy. You don't see movies made like this anymore. Very laid back and relax with the purpose of everything unfolding naturally.

Like some of the food in the movie it's a required taste, but I recommend taking a bite.

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The Coppola name comes with big expectations nowadays, but Eleanor Coppola (wife of Francis Ford, mother of Sofia) offers up a sweet, simplistic and somewhat conventional film about a 50 something woman who stumbles her way into a delightful adventure.

Diane Lane plays Anne, the elegant but somewhat neglected wife of a successful producer. They are supposed to take a long-delayed vacation in Paris only for that vacation to get delayed again when her husband, Michael, has to rush to Budapest for work. Anne is initially supposed to go with him, but when a severe earache prevents her from flying Michael's producing partner Jacques steps in and offers to drive her up to Paris. What is supposed to only be a quick car ride slouches into a several day long trip as spendthrift Jacques insists on making numerous detours to sample the architectural, culinary and cultural delights.

The movie is full of clichés (I mean really, a charming Frenchman named Jacques?) but Lane and Arnaud Viard have good chemistry and it's fun playing tourist by proxy as they stroll around the countryside flirting and looking chic. The movie only stumbles towards the end when it tries to get serious.

Early on the film comments about the importance of timing the perfect soufflé so that it doesn't deflate. Unfortunately, while made up of all the perfect ingredients this film isn't time quite write. It deflates a little upon conclusion but much like a soufflé would be, it still tastes perfectly alright.

Diane Lane is married to Alec Baldwin, a successful movie producer. They have a successful marriage and a daughter in her second semester at college. They are at Cannes when word comes that a movie in Budapest needs him on the scene. When Miss Lane's ear infection makes the pilot ground her, they agree she will meet her husband in Paris; his European partner, Arnaud Viard, is driving there anyway, and will take her. So, with misgivings about leaving his wife in the hands of a single Frenchman, Baldwin is out of the movie (except for a few phone calls) and Lane & Viard are off on a road trip. Of course, Viard offers a Cook's Tour of the regions they are passing through, complete with Roman remnants and far more food than anyone can eat, the perfect wines to accompany the food, and remain as photogenic as these two.

It's a chick flick, pure and simple, meant for middle-aged and older women. The food is photogenic (Miss Lane takes photos that would grace the pages of BON APPETIT) and everyone knows Viard, including the manageress of the Lumiere Museum in Lyon. It's a movie about the glories of French Cuisine and Diane Lane, and if it remains PG-rated at all times, there is the offer of a meeting at a well-known clam bar in San Francisco and a jaunt up the Californian coast and Miss Lane staring thoughtfully into the camera after Viard has left.

The director is Eleanor Coppola, the wife of Francis Ford Coppola (it's an American Zoetrope production) and if she waited until she was 80 to make her feature film debut, it makes one wonder how autobiographical a trifle (to borrow a cooking term from another cuisine) this pleasant, minor film is.

There is no escaping the three pillars of movie-making: they have always been narrative, cinematography and emotion. If any pillar is weak, the movie struggles but if all three are weak the movie doesn't have a chance. With an appealing plot, a favourite actress, and a road trip across France, how could Paris Can Wait (2016) not succeed?

A story of an unhurried drive through France is full of promise. Neglected wife Anne (Diane Lane) and movie mogul husband Michael (Alec Baldwin) have been in Cannes and about to board a flight to Paris for a long-awaited holiday. At the last minute, she is advised not to fly because of an ear infection and agrees instead to be driven to Paris by her husband's French business associate Jacques (Arnaud Viard). What was expected to be a few hours drive becomes a two-day road trip, meandering into places Anne would never have seen without Jacques' knowledge of local attractions. Jacques is a gourmand who knows every good restaurant along the way and Anne allows him to show off his taste for fine food, French wines and other hidden cultural treasures. The trip is punctuated by long and luxurious meals, and frequent commentary on local history, architecture and customs. Despite Jacques' flirtations, they stay in separate rooms while Anne dutifully stays in touch by phone with her by-now anxious husband and daughter. By the time they arrive in Paris, Michael is showing his wife more attention than he has for years.

For this story to work, it needs rising romantic tension, some surprising revelations or narrative twists, or at least a sense of excitement about possibilities lying in wait. Instead it is two days of small talk punctuated by Anne's photo-taking: even when each reveals an emotional event in their lives it quickly dissolves into banal conversation without impact on their relationship or how we see them. The idea that Jacques' flirtations might succeed with Anne is deflated by his encounters with girlfriends along the way. Even the gastronomic feasts fall flat as visual treats: one plate of something delicious quickly loses its appeal when the plates just keep coming. The photographic delights of countryside France are captured inelegantly through car windows or in other uninspiring ways, and Jacques' informative tour-guide commentary has the tonal enthusiasm of someone reading from a travel brochure. The mediocre script is made worse by dialogue delivered as if Anne and Jacques were paced by a metronome, each taking turns to speak with the same pause between sentences. This lack of spontaneity carries throughout their journey except when Jacques' car breaks down and he immediately springs into picnic mode, grabbing a basket of goodies, and spreading a blanket alongside a lake in a scene that is pure Monet. That's what you do when your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, isn't it?

Given its quality ingredients this film should have worked. If the story represents a personal journey of self-awareness its revelations remain obscure. As it is based on the director's real-life experience, perhaps reality got in the way of creative filmmaking. Whatever the reason, the delicious promise embedded in the wonderful title Paris Can Wait does not even come close to fulfilment.