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"Paris" is a valentine to the city of lights ... and the city of life.
A former dancer, Pierre (Romain Duris), increasingly watches it from the sidelines. When he becomes winded by apartment stairs, an elderly neighbor scolds, "You're like some old geezer. Get some exercise!"
If only it were that simple. He doesn't need exercise; he needs a new heart.
In the meantime, Pierre watches television, gardens and looks out the window or stands on his balcony. "I watch other people live. I wonder who they are, where they go," he tells his older sister, Elise (Juliette Binoche), a social worker and single mother of three.
Much later, when Elise complains about work and men who prefer "silly young girls" to opinionated 40-year-olds, Pierre stops her. "Your days aren't numbered. You're alive, you've got time. Enjoy it! ... Give chance a chance."
- Starring: Juliette Binoche, Romain Duris.
- Rating: Not rated but adult in nature. In French with English subtitles.
"Paris," directed by Cedric Klapisch ("L'Auberge Espagnole," "When the Cat's Away") provides a crash course in Paris, modern and ancient, and Parisians, natives and newcomers.
He gives us wide views and close-ups, the illuminated Eiffel Tower as a landing pad for Santa Claus, the bakery as a soapbox for opining on differences among the provinces and the warehouse as a literal meat market for workers and the tipsy fashionistas who stumble by and want to frolic amid the carcasses and fresh fruit.
A professor (Fabrice Luchini) at the Sorbonne provides historical perspective that extends to the city but not necessarily his own family and architect brother (Francois Cluzet from "Tell No One"), a happy expectant father.
Not all characters are created equally and some are mere snapshots or shimmery shadows. The writer-director assembles his movie mosaic with shards, some more substantial than others.
Watching Pierre look at the city with fresh eyes, I was reminded of the billboard message about the late CMU professor Randy Pausch: "Wrote book on living while dying." Pierre may or may not be dying, but he is trying to live and remind others to do the same.
Opens today at Manor theater.
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