Paris-Manhattan

"Paris-Manhattan" features a woman obsessed with Woody Allen, much like myself and many others are. She lives in Paris, works as a pharmacist, is single, spends her days discussing Woody Allen movies and spends her nights discussing her life with Woody Allen – meaning, a poster of Woody Allen. Luckily the film got the rights to Allen's movies, and he responds to her with things he has said before.

The beginning of the movie is the funniest with the poster version of Allen delivering all of the film's witticisms – meaning Allen's own witticisms from his own movies. We have laughed at them all before, but there's a reason we still watch them – they're still funny. He complains about life, complains about death and offers her zero constructive advice. But that's why we love him. The heroine, Alice Ovitz (Alice Taglioni), seems to get frustrated by that, but she's frustrated with her life in general.

She's in love with Pierre, but Pierre is married to her sister. Her sister is a lawyer and has a teenage daughter, while Alice is just a pharmacist working in their father's store, and gets sets up on dates by her parents, her sister and her perfect brother-in-law. Alice was a frustrating heroine. She would complain incessantly about being single but when someone would set her up on a date, she would try to assert her independence and say that she's a career woman with no interest in being with a man. She is, unfortunately, a terribly written character. And a movie dedicated to Woody Allen deserves much better.

The filmmaker definitely knows her Woody Allen, which is, of course, a must for a film like this. The film switches from a comedy of family entanglement to a romantic comedy to a comedic caper and back to a romantic comedy with ease just as Allen himself has done throughout his career. When Alice's romantic misgivings become tiring, the film switches pace to a mischievous comedic caper à la "Manhattan Murder Mystery" or "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion". It's too bad the filmmaker wasn't able to infuse any of her Allen knowledge into the main character. When somebody says to her that "'Manhattan' hasn't aged well" she argues back with "No." Apparently she has nothing else to say on the subject.

When the film switches back to a romantic comedy, Alice is now at the point where she has to move on with her life and so the Woody Allen poster comes down. Blaming him for her romantic rut. But he wasn't the one to tell her to idolize rich, handsome men who lie and cheat. But it has also already been established that she's a terrible character, so we just have to get past that.

But the good thing is, we can get past all that. First, Alice's romantic counterpart has a brilliant line about gods and the men Alice idolizes. And ultimately "Paris-Manhattan" is funny. It's a feel-good romantic comedy that also delivers an ending that all romanticists and realists alike dream about.

You will watch the movie, and time will pass.. and the only thing you will remember is her. It's what makes this film fantasy.. no way this woman could ever go years without men constantly being on her trail. There is not a scene of which she is on-screen that you are not drawn to watch only-her... and you really don't care much at all what she is saying.. you are just there captivated.

In Paris, the pharmacist Alice (Alice Taglioni) has been an obsessed Woody Allen fan since she was fifteen and has seen all his movies and talks to him alone in her room. When she meets Pierre (Louis-Do de Lencquesaing) in a night-club, she finds that he loves jazz and she believes he is her prince charming. But when Pierre sees Alice's sister Hélène (Marine Delterme), they immediately fall in love with each other and marry each other.

Years later, Alice is a spinster that administrates the pharmacy that belonged to her father (Michel Aumont) and believes that movies can heal many diseases. However her father insistently tries to find a husband for her. When the alarm technician Victor (Patrick Bruel) meets Alice, she does not see any future relationship with him. But one day, Victor brings Alice to meet Woody Allen in Paris and the director gives an advice to Alice.

"Paris-Manhattan" is a delightful French comedy and certainly cult for any fan of Woody Allen. Like the lead actress, I have watched all the movies of Woody Allen and my favorite is Manhattan (but fortunately I have never had a conversation alone with him like she does). When I started to watch the movie, I believed that it was a Woody Allen's film since even the letters in the presentation were very similar to his movies. But when Woody Allen himself appears on the screen, this was the greatest surprise I had. In the end, I loved this great little movie. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Paris-Manhattan"

This film is about a female pharmacist in Paris who loves Woody Allen film. She attempts to change other peoples' lives using his films.

"Paris Manhattan" is quite short at only 80 minutes. Even then, there is not enough material to fill up the screen time. It drags on and on, and nothing much happens. The plot is too predictable, in that there is little Vincent and too much Victor. We don't see Alice being torn between two guys, so we know who she will choose right from the start. The constant Woody Allen references are annoying, it feels as if they made the film just for the sake of showing the filmmaker's love for the revered director. If it was not for the surprise cameo, the film would have been very bad.

Alice is a thirty-something single woman living in Paris who has been obsessed with Woody Allen since she was a teenager. She lives her life through Woody Allen's words of wisdom.

Alice's parents try to find her a suitable partner, which she possibly finds while working at the family pharmacy when a local man, Victor, fits an alarm system. The film ends with Woody Allen making an appearance where he assures Alice that Victor is a great guy who is ideal for her.

Entertaining comedy. Occasionally loses its pace and in places the story could be a little tighter.