Midnight in Paris Synopsis: Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) is a screenwriter and aspiring novelist. Vacationing in Paris with his fiancee (Rachel McAdams), he has taken to touring the city alone. On one such late-night excursion, Gil encounters a group of strange — yet familiar — revelers, who sweep him along, apparently back in time, for a night with some of the Jazz Age’s icons of art and literature. The more time Gil spends with these cultural heroes of the past, the more dissatisfied he becomes with the present.
While in Paris with his fiancee, Inez, and her parents, struggling author Gil Pender finds creative inspiration in the city’s streets. While Inez socializes with an old college crush and his wife, Gil wanders the streets of Paris after dark, where he is inexplicably taken by car into the 1920s.
He meets and befriends F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda, Ernest Hemingway, and Gertrude Stein, who agree to read and critique Gil’s novel. Eventually, Gil meets Adriana, a lover of Pablo Picasso. The two connect, and Gil begins to question his relationship with Inez.
The first and only time I saw Midnight in Paris was in 2011 when it was released. I remember liking it quite a bit, so when it came to choosing a movie to watch with my husband last night, it felt like a no-brainer to pull this one up again (it’s currently streaming on Hulu as of today). I will say that while I am not a fan of Woody Allen as a person, I do (begrudgingly?) like this movie a lot.
Owen Wilson is the perfect person to play someone like Gil. He’s a nostalgic man, a dreamer of the past. He loves Paris, especially in the rain. He wants to succeed as a novelist but is too scared to show his work to anyone. He’s more than patient with his fiancee, Inez, played by Rachel McAdams, but you can’t help but wonder what he sees in her. She’s rude and disinterested in Gil’s dreams. She would rather spend time with Paul, an old college friend who she freely admits she had a crush on back in the day. It’s apparent to us that they’re wrong for each other, so we have to wait for Gil to catch up.
There’s a certain magic to this movie. So many of us are nostalgic for the past, wishing we could return to a time when things felt simpler. However, people tend to romanticize aspects of the past while conveniently ignoring its downsides. With Midnight in Paris, Allen explores this idea through Gil and then through Adriana, both of whom wish to escape their present for different reasons.
Midnight in Paris has a great cast. Along with Wilson, McAdams, and Cotillard, the film also stars Michael Sheen, Kathy Bates as Stein, Tom Hiddleston, and Alison Pill as F. Scott and Zelda Fitgerald, Adrien Brody as Salvador Dalí and, the bright spot of the film for me, Corey Stoll as Ernest Hemingway. The scenes between Gil and Hemingway were brilliant, thanks to Stoll’s performance as the author, who can’t seem to stop writing prose, even as he speaks.
Midnight in Paris is very charming and sentimental. It’s whimsical and imaginative, with excellent performances. Even if the story had been lacking, the setting would have been worth a watch. It’s a love story to Paris and makes me hope that maybe someday, I will get to experience the city myself!
Watched: 08/12/2023
Notable Song: Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love) by Cole Porter
