Paris Pode Esperar

I don't get the low rating for this film. As a man, I can understand how it would be borderline boring, but still it is a good movie, with good acting and very beautiful content. I went through a trip in France, with the great lighting and the great food and the beautiful countryside and I can tell you it's truly what women want. My wife was happy for months. And this is the film adaptation of such a trip, written and directed by Eleanor Coppola.

There are two problems with this film. One is that this is about rich people traveling through France and getting the best of the best from fancy restaurants and places for the in-people. That can annoy some folk. The other is that there really is no story. There's just a French guy trying to woo a beautiful American married woman.

One can learn a lot from this film, too. Basically, the writer says "hey, men that take their wives for granted! Your women want romance!". OK, that can be annoying, too, but also serves as a manual on how women would like to be made to feel.

Bottom line: a true romantic road trip movie, with no pointless comedy or drama added. Refreshing and inspiring.

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.

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.

http://cinemagardens.com

"Paris Can Wait" is one of those escape type drift away movies that has one to reflect on the fine things in life like arts, culture, great food and wine, it proves that for so long that life can be carefree. Set in the south of France with Anne(Diane Lane)a middle age woman who's going thru the middle roads of life, decides to break away from her husband a tough and work a lot movie producer(Alec Baldwin). And Anne takes a road trip to Paris, with one of her husband's best friends and on the road trip it's a journey of thought and seeing of the sights for Anne. Really it's an adventure of arts, wine, and food. Also underneath it all reflection and memories and escape all are written over Anne's face, plus a possible new love and romance interest seems to begin. Overall good escape film that shows one can drift away from the present life with an adventure journey.