Dans Paris

This movie is so underrated by IMDb users! Seriously, this is one of the 00's best movies, a french masterpiece made by Honoré. I know that french style of doin' movies it's not a easy thing to see. But really, Dans Paris makes everyone think about their own life, their own problems, affairs, visions of life! The way Garrel and Duris do their characters so likable, so human, so real in their lives, in their ultra sensitivity is splendorous. Although Dans Paris have some..amateur filming job, it wins in other ways like the BSO, that is amazing, having songs that have 30 years, and others almost unknown. This movie have a completely different way to see life, and to explain it. Honoré have future, and some people know it. Others prefer to wait for some other hollywoodie things, same stories, same boring (millionaire) guys. BTW, if you really want to see how cinema is evolving, you must watch this movie. Swear it.

'Dans Paris' tells the story of a highly dysfunctional family one Christmas. There's the eccentric, meddlesome father; his superficially affectionate ex-wife; his depressed elder son, recovering from a high-octane affair with an emotionally demanding woman; his philandering younger son; a dumped girlfriend of the latter; and, hovering above them all, the memory of a daughter who committed suicide. It sounds depressing, but the film has a jazzy feel (and soundtrack), and improvises nicely judged, semi-fantastical sequences to leaven the realism. This isn't a huge movie - in terms of plot, not a lot happens - but it's originally drawn, and a fun and occasionally touching portrait of the messiness of life.

After the ambitious and catastrophic "Ma Mère" -- which bowdlerized Georges Bataille and cheapened Isabelle Huppert's considerable talents -- director/writer Christophe Honoré tucks in his tail and tries to woo the audience with this moldy, silly, instantly forgettable feel-good Christmas movie (à la française, bien entendu) addressed to nostalgic "nouvelle vagueurs" and middle-aged couples (gay and straight).

Godard and especially Truffaut are major influences here, from the casting of Louis Garrel in a mix of the Belmondo/Brialy/Léaud inconsequential womanizers, to the presence of Truffaut habitués Guy Marchand (as the insufferable father) and Marie-France Pisier (as the phallic mother). It features a rip-off of, uh, homage to the jump into the Seine from "Jules et Jim"; a singularly unattractive exploration of wintry Paris (the film is called "Dans Paris", but the title should have been "Dans un Appartement Vachement Laid à Paris"); and the insertion of Godardian tricks (those neon signs and a "naturalistic" musical number over the telephone that will make you cringe with embarrassment for poor Romain Duris). Briefly, "Dans Paris" is an unexciting, visually mediocre cinephile's tribute to the French New Wave with nothing new, funny or witty to say: it's as stale as last week's ratatouille.

"Dans Paris" also advocates the arguable notion that depression can be cured by family love and chicken soup. The women in the film are either insensitive phallic bores (the Mother, Anna), dim-witted disposable sex toys (Jonathan's lovers) or dead (the sister). On the other hand, the men ooze warmth, sensitivity and emotion: they're so full of love and they show it so much and so often (the real love scenes are between the men here) that by the end you start wondering why families need women again, except for that nasty job of procreation.

The only reason to watch "Dans Paris" is that screen magnet Louis Garrel: with his silent movie star good looks (he's got Louise Brooks' eyes and eyebrows, his profile belongs to a vintage Art Déco poster) and uninhibited physicality (he's got no problem with parading naked, as we know by now), Garrel reunites Léaud's gauche charms, Belmondo's non-chalance and self-confidence, Brialy's ambiguous sexuality, and an emotional availability that renders him instantly likable in any part. A young star in the great tradition of the handsome, talented French "jeunes premiers", Garrel is definitely here to stay, and ready to create memorable characters like his François Dervieux in the magnificent "Les Amants Réguliers" -- all he needs is a decent role and a good director (none of which can be found here). Because of him, I'll give "Dans Paris" these 4 stars the film itself doesn't remotely deserve.

I saw Dans Paris in Paris during October, where it is showing in a number of theaters. It is a thought provoking movie about the relationship between siblings and how it can shape their lives. Part comedy, part tragedy, and at time a mixture of both, it is worth seeing. The photography is beautiful and it has a lively sound track. Dans Paris makes me optimistic about French cinema which has been deteriorating into commercialism. i.e. movies that can easily be ripped off and remade in English. Granted, someone might try to take the plot line of Dans Paris and turn it into a vehicle for the Wilson Brothers. But before that happens, try to see this if it comes your way.

a remarkable movie. for the memories about the New Wave and Bergman's dramas. for the inspired choice for the leading roles - Duris and Garell. for the atmosphere. and for the profound delicacy to build the story as a puzzle with many solutions. a film about family, love siblings relations, solitude , redemption and certitudes. a film of words more than images because the words, in this case, as parts of dramatic gestures, confuse escapes. simple, fresh, direct, seductive for the science to transform different ingredients in a precise fresco of crisis. like each good film, an experience. useful not only at artistic level.