Paris. (2009) Cédric Klapisch

Blogposts might be a little less forthcoming over the next few weeks as Filmsweep-Land has gone into warp drive and life is changing fast. Mr. Persona is preparing to traverse to the known epicenter of progressive culture -- Grand Rapids -- but I'll try to simply throw out a paragraph or two about anything good I run into.

Titus will no doubt be written about this week.

Paris turned out to be a wonderful little movie about a sister that moves in with her dying brother, bringing her children to his home to take care of him while he awaits a possible heart donation. The film has a stellar cast, which is lead by Juliette Binoche, who, if she's ever turned in a clunker of a performance, I'm not aware of it. Over the last twenty(?) years, she simply amazes on every acting level. Romain Duris (Thomas Seyr in The Beat That My Heart Skipped), François Cluzet (Alexandre Beck from Tell No One), Albert Dupontel (Irréversible and A Very Long Engagement), and Mélanie Laurent (Shosanna in Inglourious Basterds) are only the beginning of other great names involved.

But I can't say enough about Binoche. She is, as always, engrossing. There are several scenes that are only between ten and thirty seconds where she barely says a thing, yet expresses at least six or seven kinds of emotion with the sheer power of her face and eyes. She is easily one of my favorite actresses on the planet, as she's constantly proven she can handle any role (Blue and Code Unknown are the obvious stand-outs but the recent Disengagement comes to mind too). And the thing that is so cool about Juliette Binoche is that she is not some kind of seductress or pin-up gal. She is simply a real woman, who finds these amazing real roles and puts everything she has into it. Love her. Love her!

The title of the film is the setting of the film, which is also a love letter to the city and its inhabitants. Klapisch gets up close and personal as we travel the city streets, running into all kinds of characters from every walk of life, and seeing them in parallel story telling -- lives that don't necessarily intersect, but bump up against one another nonetheless.

This is a good one to watch with your honey bunny.