Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris is a delightful, whimsical romantic comedy which also is a celebration of the "City of Light." Europe has become one of Allen's locales of choice in recent years, and the captivating character and beauty of Paris is on full display from the film's opening frames. Midnight in Paris also is witty, amusing, and replete with outstanding performances by an excellent ensemble cast.
Midnight in Paris
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Year: 2011
Rated: PG-13
Program Length: 94 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 1080p
Languages: English, French (PAR) LCR DTS-HD MA (Discrete Surround)
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
The Program
I love Paris in the spring time
I love Paris in the fall
I love Paris in the summer, when it sizzles
I love Paris in the winter, when it drizzles
I love Paris every moment
Every moment of the year
- Cole Porter
Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris is a delightful, whimsical romantic comedy which also is a celebration of the "City of Light." Europe has become one of Allen's locales of choice in recent years, and the captivating character and beauty of Paris is on full display from the film's opening frames. Midnight in Paris also is witty, amusing, and replete with outstanding performances by an excellent ensemble cast.
Gil (Owen Wilson) and his fiancée, Inez (Rachel McAdams) are Californians visiting Paris with her parents. Gil is a Hollywood screenwriter who has been struggling with completing his first novel and he has begun to dream about living in Paris. Inez, on the other hand, cannot imagine herself living outside of the United States and she foresees them buying a house and settling down in Malibu. From Gil's perspective, their vacation takes a turn for the worse when they bump into friends of Inez, Paul (Michael Sheen) and Carol (Nina Arianda). Paul is a pompous intellectual who fancies himself an expert on everything. Whether they are visiting a museum, or attending a wine tasting, or exploring the palace of Versailles, Paul is obnoxiously all-knowing. One evening Gil decides that he has had enough, that he needs to get away by himself and take a long walk through the streets of Paris.
As the hour grows late, Gil realizes that he is lost and does not know the way back to the hotel. At the stroke of midnight he stops to rest, and a vintage Peugeot driving down the street comes to a halt. The passengers in the car, who obviously have been partying, call Gil over and invite him to join them. To describe what happens next would reveal the film's central plot device, so suffice it say that over the course of many nights Gil discovers why Paris has always attracted writers, musicians, artists and great thinkers. His experiences cause him to re-evaluate the path he is on and lead him to come to grips with the conflicting feelings he has.
Midnight in Paris features wonderful performances by its supporting actors, including Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Carla Bruni, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hiddleston, Alison Pill, Corey Stoll and others. The screenplay is one of Woody Allen's best in years, and it assumes that the audience has a certain degree of cultural literacy. The film is full of references to luminaries such as Ernest Hemingway, Cole Porter, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali and many more. One of the film's more clever moments references the Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel. You do not necessarily have to fully understand the reference to appreciate the joke, but it may encourage you to do some research into Buñuel's body of work.
Unlike so many current filmmakers who crank out mediocre romantic comedies, Allen does not write down to the viewer. Nor does he find any need to explain the aforementioned plot device. Whether it is real, or a dream, or a simple figment of imagination is irrelevant. The important thing is that it is highly original, extremely enjoyable, and beautifully, convincingly played by everyone involved.
The Video
This is a typically excellent Blu-ray transfer from Sony. The 1.85:1 image appears to be properly framed. The picture is well detailed with no evidence of excessive digital manipulation. The color palette is very warm with an emphasis on yellows, reds and browns. Comments by the director indicate that this was a deliberate choice on his part, so the presumption is that the Blu-ray accurately represents how the film appeared in theaters. Black levels are solid and shadow detail is very good. All of the exterior scenes were shot on location in France, which naturally adds to the film's appeal. An appropriate level of film grain has been retained to give this Blu-ray presentation a satisfying, film-like appearance. All in all this is a first-class Blu-ray presentation.
The Audio
The lossless DTS-HD MA is excellent, considering the fact that Woody Allen never does much with the surround channels. He prefers to use to use music rather than sound effects for emphasis and mood, and such is the case with Midnight in Paris. The evocative musical soundtrack is beautifully rendered and the dialogue is clear and understandable. As noted above, the left-center-right channels do almost all of the work and the surround effects are decidedly discrete.
The Supplements
The single Blu-ray disc offers little in the way of extras.
"Midnight in Cannes" is five minutes of excerpts from a press conference at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. It includes interesting observations by Woody Allen, Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen, and Adrien Brody. It is in standard definition and the audio is mono.
A collection of still photos can be viewed individually or as a slide show. Some of the photos show Allen talking to his actors, and there are also several photos taken at Cannes.
The only other extras are the theatrical trailer for Midnight in Paris and the trailer for Roman Polanski's Carnage, which has just opened in theaters.
The Packaging
The single disc comes in a standard Blu-ray keep case.
The Final Analysis
Midnight in Paris is a delightful, intelligent romantic comedy which has been given a sterling Blu-ray transfer by Sony. The only disappointment is the skimpy package of extras. Nevertheless, it will make an excellent holiday gift for any fan of Woody Allen.
Equipment used for this review:
Panasonic DMP-BD50 Blu-ray player
Panasonic Viera TC-P46G15 Plasma display, calibrated to THX specifications by Gregg Loewen
Yamaha HTR-5890 THX Surround Receiver
BIC Acoustech speakers
Interconnects: Monster Cable
Release Date: December 20, 2011
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