Paris-Manhattan

Paris-Manhattan (2012), written and directed by Sophie Lellouche, stars Alice Taglioni as Alice, a 30-something pharmacist in Paris who worships Woody Allen. Alice can't find the man of her dreams. (Well, she found him, but he married her sister.) So, instead of looking for another man, she spends her time watching Woody Allen films and talking to Woody's poster, which hangs on the wall in her room. (The poster answers back, using quotes from Allen's films.)

Of course, she finally meets that man of her dreams, but she doesn't realize he's the man of her dreams. He's not sure she's the woman of his dreams either.

There are secondary plots about the boyfriend of Alice's young niece, and about whether Alice's brother-in-law is having an affair. Neither subplot adds much to the film, but they keep the movie moving forward.

In a way, I'm surprised that I enjoyed this film as much as I did. However, when you have a movie that is set in Paris, a protagonist who is strikingly attractive, who quotes Woody Allen the way other people quote the Talmud, how can you not enjoy it?

We saw this film at Rochester's Dryden Theatre as part of the excellent Rochester Jewish Film Festival. It will work well on DVD. It's worth seeing, as long as you don't expect "Hannah and her Sisters," or even "Play it Again, Sam."

"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.

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.

I used to be French and I used to love Woody Allen - "used" because of a combination of geographical mutation and a vanishing memory... I remember seeing this movie in Sydney a few years ago, so taped it when it was on TV a few days ago. This time I watched it on my own, perhaps because I felt it might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I had a wonderful time revisiting... I did not worry about expectations and really it's one's best way to approach it, not to pull it on a slab and dissect it. (the same goes for so many other movies; it supposes to be fun, and it is. I liked the originality to involve W Allen the way it is done and make a romantic and funny story out of it. I was interested to read one of the comment mentioning that years ago Woody Allen, in "Play it Again Sam", Does a similar thing when he converse with a certain "Humphrey Bogart". I would be surprised if it was just a coincidence. Although I can't say it has any other bearing on this film.

I rarely watch films on planes apart from the small screen, I hate the ridiculous censors applied particularly by aircraft operated from Muslim countries. Anyway it was a long flight, I knew nothing of the film, the title I think I'd heard of, it was reminiscent of course of "Paris, Texas" so I was intrigued. A romantic comedy nice and easy. It was delightful, I was unsure whether it was a 'Woody Allen' film or not but when I discovered that it wasn't it made it even more wonderful that he appeared, little more than a cameo but perfect. I cried with joy, very sweet, light hearted and fun. If you don't enjoy it perhaps you have a wooden heart?