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‘Midnight in Paris’ opens Cannes
CANNES, France - Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” kicked off the Cannes Film Festival on a lighthearted note Wednesday.
It’s one of Allen’s more amusing efforts of the last few years, but like most of his later films, it lacks the existentially tortured protagonist and any larger philosophical debate.
Instead, it’s an homage to Paris — a romp through the city’s intellectual and artistic history.
Dallas native Owen Wilson plays Gil, a screenwriter who has accompanied his wife-to-be and his prospective in-laws on a trip to Paris. The in-laws pose big problems for Gil, especially since they’re Tea Party Republicans who disdain anything French.
Wilson’s Gil, meanwhile, romanticizes Paris as a city that could inspire him to complete a long-gestating novel, much to the dismay of his fiancée (Rachel McAdams), who wants him to continue his lucrative screenwriting job in Hollywood.
To explain the plot would be to spoil a surprise, and the notes distributed before Wednesday’s screening scrupulously avoided giving away any plot details. Wilson’s character, however, wants to experience all of the city’s charms and begins to take solo walks at midnight.
At a press conference after the screening, Allen praised Wilson as the perfect person for the role. The director apparently thinks the former University of Texas student represents laid-back, West Coast beach boys, as he told reporters Wednesday.
Wilson looked mildly amused during Allen’s comments but said nothing to contradict the director.
Allen said that he didn’t know where his story was headed when he first came up with the title, “Midnight in Paris.” He just wanted the film to reflect the Paris he had seen as a young adult attending the movies.
“It’s the Manhattan I don’t see around me, but I recognize it from the movies.” Allen said.
“Midnight” opens with a warmly tinted montage of the some of the most famous Parisian scenes. And as luck would have it, Allen said, part of that montage was filmed during a rainy day, which the directors considers part of Paris’ magic.
Allen pointed out that nearly all the colors in “Midnight” are autumnal, a visual style that he thinks is far more appealing cinematically because of the colors’ warmth. There are no blues in “Midnight,” he said.
He also said that he cast the French first lady, Carla Bruni, in a minor role as a museum guide after having dinner with her and her husband, Nicolas Sarkozy. He said that she has seen the movie and was pleased with the portrayal. “She came in and did her part very gracefully.”
The Sarkozys are not expected at the red-carpet premiere tonight. The French press has been speculating for the last couple of days that the first lady is unexpectedly pregnant with twins.
Coming up tonight: “Sleeping Beauty,” Julia Leigh’s potentially controversial tale of a narcoleptic prostitute.
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