Jay Dee

The way so many Hollywood films are based in Los Angeles and New York, not surprisingly a lot of French cinema is based in Paris (it is favorite city of American movie producers too).  Among the French films based fully or partly in Paris that I have seen and can recall are Paris 36, Diary of a Chambermaid, Ma Vie En Rose, Chocolat, La Vie En Rose, Paris, je t’aime, Amelie, Le Divorce, Fauteuils d’orchestre (Avenue Montaigne), Mon oncle d’Amérique, and Les Triplettes de Belleville (The Triplets of Belleville).

Obviously, if you love Paris and have vacationed in the City of Lights, you will be happy to see most of the familiar landmarks, but this is not a documentary about visiting Paris.  The main purpose of the film is to give you an insight into the life of French people, who always seem to be struggling with existential dilemmas in movies and otherwise.  While the lead story is that of Pierre (Romain Duris), a dancer who is dying of a cardiovascular complication, and his sister Elise (Juliette Binoche), who is a single mother raising three kids, and decides to stay with him during last days of his life.

Their lives intersect with several other Parisians, but the ones who struck me were Roland Verneuil (Fabrice Luchini), a middle aged man with a serious rather late midlife crisis, who starts casually dating his student, Laetitia (Melanie Laurent) and Jean (Albert Dupontel), a vegetable vendor who develops a liking for Elise.  The film does not have a remarkable end, but the biggest message that I got out of it is that if you are reading this review, then be happy that you are alive, and go out there to live your life to the fullest, because at this very moment there are people who are about to die can do nothing about it.  As long as you live, there is hope, so stop hating your life, because someone on her deathbed will do anything just to live an extra day.