Un amour à Paris

Who says that all love stories must inevitably end in a situation depicting a happy end ? If all love stories were to end as a happy end then a film like "Un Amour à Paris" could not have been made.Algerian director Merzak Allouache has given a new dimension to strange realities of France by making a superb film in the form of a love story about mainstream representation of class differences in French society.His film asks a very basic question:why are some people not able to succeed in life ? It is because certain people are always haunted by their past.This is precisely what happens to our leading man who dreams of becoming a cosmonaut despite his shady past as a small time criminal.At the surface level "Un Amour à Paris" is a very unusual love story which takes its own time to transform itself from a work of entertainment to a poignant drama.An important aspect of this film is that it presents a fairly honest portrayal of Paris as a city where many impossible dreams are nurtured by talented people.The idea is to suggest that Paris is much more than merely a place for tourists and fashion models.Those who are familiar with aspects of French political system would lose no time to spot the presence of a renowned French political figure Daniel Cohn Bendit.It is only in French cinema that one can see talented non actors like Daniel Cohn Bendit and Bernard Tapie doing remarkably well in acting roles.This is a trend which suggests that nobody is born as an actor as actors can be created by their mentors.The merit of "Un Amour à Paris" lies in the abrupt manner Merzak Allouache steers his film towards drama zone in order to achieve a not so happy end for his film.

For those who, like me, love Merzak Allouache's knack both for comedy and social comment ( just think these wonderful titles : "Omar Gatlato", "Salut Cousin" or Bab El Oued City" ), "Un Amour à Paris" comes as a major disappointment. Indeed, instead of highlighting serious subjects in a biting tone, the writer-director decides this time around to try his hand at poetic lunacy, a subgenre "Benny and Joon" illustrates much better. And he dramatically fails. We do not feel any interest in such characters as a French Jewish girl dreaming of being a top model( what a dream !) falling in love with an Algerian born in France hoping to become an ... astronaut ( high hopes indeed ! ). We might have if Allouache had opted for the fast pace of Hollywood's slapstick comedies. But narrated in a half-realistic, half poetic way who on earth can buy into this silly tale?

To be fair, I didn't sleep all the time. I enjoyed seeing Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the hero of may '68, narrate "his" student revolution.In the story he is supposed to be a sociology professor but the character is so close to "Dany le Rouge" that he plays virtually himself. On the other hand , Karim Allaoui is fine as Ali,the dreamer.