© Sony Pictures
Classics
Review by D. Boilesen
Sony Pictures Classics have
consistently brought me great movie experiences. So I shouldn't
be surprised that this film is in my top five.
I love time-travel movies and
this one is especially good because it is based on the idea that
'the golden age' always exists in the past. For Hollywood 2011 resident
Gil Pender, played by Owen Wilson, it is Paris in the 1920's. For
Adriana, played by Marion Cotillard and living in Paris in the 1920's
when time-traveling Gil meets her, the golden age is Paris of the
1870's and the Belle Époque.
Our idea of history and what
we think we know about the past and how we select golden ages is
fascinating.
Likewise, what Gil Pender discovers
about his own life while journeying to the Parisian 1920's and what
he wants to do going forward is a well-told story.
This is an enchanting, magical,
romantic movie and as a bonus (for any Friend of the Phonograph)
it even has a couple of vintage phonographs and Cole Porter records.
The following are a few images
(courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics) that make me smile and remember
why I love Paris and this movie so much.
The William Faulkner estate
filed a lawsuit against Sony Pictures Classics for the film's use
of the phrase "The past is not dead. Actually, it's not even past."
As Wikipedia notes in their Midnight
in Paris encyclopedia entry, this lawsuit was
based on "paraphrasing of an often-quoted line from Faulkner's
1950 book Requiem for a Nun ("The past is never dead. It's not even
past."), claiming that the paraphrasing was an unlicensed use of
the estate. Faulkner is directly credited in the dialogue when Gil
claims to have met the writer at a dinner party (though Faulkner
is never physically portrayed in the film)...In July 2013, a federal
judge in Mississippi dismissed the lawsuit on fair use grounds."
The Cole Porter
record scene
