Paris est toujours Paris

Being of Italian heritage and having visited both Italy and France many times, I found "Paris est Toujours Paris" ("Parigi e sempre Parigi") heartbreakingly true in themes and fictional format: without giving away the ending, we know very soon what each character wants and the first half of this movie sets up the inevitable second half. I found the first seemingly chaotic half hard to watch and I almost gave up but something about it kept me viewing. We see two old acquaintances, an Italian restaurant owner and a French baron, reconnect at the train station as a group of Italian tourists arrive for a short but busy stay in Paris, including a sold-out soccer match. Unlike most tour groups, these folks soon scatter to pursue their various diverse interests: see the sights, visit the Louvre, go on a shopping spree, drink champagne in the cabarets, chase women, indulge in girlie shows and a brothel - but, at the heart of this film, if we listen carefully to a very young Yves Montand, we learn a cautionary truth: due to the French Revolution, people are free to do as they please. This film personifies a philosophical truth: we are lost because we are free. One closing, night time image will forever remain in my mind - what transpires wordlessly in the rain on a steep staircase in Montmartre. "Paris is Always Paris" is a film not to be missed.