By Diya Ahuja, 19 April, 2020
“I can never decide whether Paris is more beautiful by day or by night.”
– Adriana (Midnight in Paris)
Have you ever watched a movie that moves you in a funny yet engaging way that you keep thinking about it for days? Well, that’s exactly how I felt after watching this beautiful piece by Woody Allen.
Midnight in Paris is a 2011 fantasy comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen. It is produced by the Spanish group Mediapro and Allen’s US-based Gravier Productions, the film stars Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Carla Bruni, Marion Cotillard, and Michael Sheen. It premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and was released in the United States on May 20, 2011. The film opened to critical acclaim and is considered one of Allen’s best films in recent years. It won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay. It was nominated for three other academy awards: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Art Direction.
This movie is like a dream come true. Gil and Inez are in love. He is a screenwriter who has started writing a novel about “A guy who owns a gift shop”. He is passionate about literature and therefore admires the work of Fitzgerald, Hemingway and other legends of 1920. He loves Paris and wants to settle here someday. On the other hand, Inez wants to live in an upper-class American Suburb and she loves to shop. While walking on the streets alone, Gil seems to travel back in time to the 1920s each night around midnight. The movie explores the themes of nostalgia and how easy it is to be lost in your imagination and run away from the present.
“The city is known for its past”. The movie is the visual representation of this quote. Light humor and nostalgia add on to the beauty of this film. It is like a dream come true in the most natural and surreal way possible.
To add to the beauty of Paris, the color palette of the movie is creamy and bright during the day. A lot of pastels have been used to give a soft and dreamy feel to it. But as soon as it turns midnight, the color palette changes drastically as that of a 1920 vibe, with a lot of bling and jazz feel to it. It represents the time travel of Gil at night.
Everything together just blends in together in this wonderful piece of art. This movie is all about being lost in the art, culture, and literature of some wonderful writers and artists of 1920. The love for the city is depicted beautifully. Each scene is portrayed so beautifully that it makes you fall in love with it.
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