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Paris, Je T'Aime
First Look International

Paris, Je T'Aime reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 66 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
7.3 out of 10
based on 27 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 18 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for language and brief drug use

Starring Fanny Ardant, Juliette Binoche, Steve Buscemi, Willem Dafoe, Ben Gazzara, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Bob Hoskins, Natalie Portman, and Elijah Wood

Various aspects of Paris are revealed through vignettes directed by 21 different directors.


GENRE(S): Foreign  |  Romance  
WRITTEN BY: Tristan Carné, Emmanuel Benbihy, Bruno Podalydès, Paul Mayeda Berges, Gurinder Chadha, Gus Van Sant, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas, Christopher Doyle, Gabrielle Keng, Kathy Li, Isabel Coixet, Nobuhiro Suwa, Sylvain Chomet, Alfonso Cuarón, Olivier Assayas. Oliver Schmitz. Richard LaGravenese, Vincenzo Natali, Wes Craven, Tom Tykwer, Gena Rowlands and Alexander Payne  
DIRECTED BY: Olivier Assayas, Frédéric Auburtin, Gurinder Chadha, Sylvain Chomet. Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Isabel Coixet, Wes Craven, Alfonso Cuarón, Gérard Depardieu, Christopher Doyle, Richard LaGravenese, Vincenzo Natali, Alexander Payne, Bruno Podalydès, Walter Salles, Oliver Schmitz, Nobuhiro Suwa, Daniela Thomas, Tom Tykwer, and Gus Van Sant  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: November 13, 2007 
Theatrical: May 4, 2007 
RUNNING TIME: 120 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: Liechtenstein / Switzerland / Germany / France 
LANGUAGE(S): English / French (with English subtitles) 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

91
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Anthology films usually work better in theory than execution, but this feature parade of shorts is a blithe, worldly, and enchanting exception.
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91
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
Even if you don't like the stories, the filmmakers seem incapable of finding a corner of Paris that is not photogenic.
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88
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
The masterpiece of the bunch is the last, wonderful piece by Alexander Payne ("14eme Arrondissement").
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83
Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
The best episodes have the emotional resonance of full-length features, and yet I didn't want them to be a moment longer than they are.
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80
Empire Alan Morrison
Love is here in all of its many guises, brought together with a touch of subtitled sophistication.
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80
Film Threat Stina Chyn
Splendid.
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78
Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman
Eighteen short films by an international who's-who of filmmakers make up this omnibus celebrating the joys and sorrows of love and Paris, organized by neighborhood.
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75
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
One of the chief pleasures of Paris, Je T'aime -- is seeing how each filmmaker adheres to their assignment of making a movie about love in Paris but still comes up with a distinctly personal work that bears their artistic sensibilities.
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75
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
The result is that after two hours one gets the sense of having seen a panorama of human experience, of having witnessed a moment of time in all its true fullness.
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75
USA Today Claudia Puig
The stories run a gamut of emotions: melancholy, bittersweet, provocative, witty, poignant, silly and fanciful.
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75
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
As is always the case with compilation films, some segments are far better than others. But they're all so brief that the least of them passes quickly and the best are small miracles of economical storytelling.
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75
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Bittersweet, funny, sad and invariably romantic.
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70
Washington Post Ann Hornaday
Paris, je t'aime builds into something quite wonderful.
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70
Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
Paris Je T'Aime has something going for it that not every movie can claim: It always has Paris.
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67
The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray
Because Paris, Je T'Aime's episodes are so short, the duds don't stick around long enough to grate much. But the good ones also don't get to explore their assigned Parisian spaces as much as they could.
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63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
I love the City of Light as much as any starry-eyed provincial, but Paris, je t'aime tries even my considerable patience.
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63
Boston Globe Wesley Morris
As an ad for the city's charms, Paris couldn't have asked for a more sweetly jaundiced love letter.
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63
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
It is possible to bring substance, as well as poetry, to the vignette form, but more often Paris, Je T'Aime is merely mundane.
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60
Time Richard Schickel
Even when one of the pieces stutters, stammers or just lies deathly still, we are consoled by our knowledge that it will not trifle with us for very long. And by the fact that there is an excellent likelihood that it will soon be replaced by something more engaging.
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60
The New York Times Stephen Holden
A cinematic tasting menu consisting entirely of amuse-bouches. After two hours of such tidbits the palate is sated. But if there is no need for a main course, you still leave feeling vaguely disappointed at not being served one.
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60
The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett
Being in Paris is to be inside a work of art, and it is no surprise that in the charming collection of vignettes that make up Paris je t'aime, the art is love.
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60
The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
The real pleasure is in having a film that is like a box of assorted chocolates: you have the power to approve or not as you move through the variety, even though the bits are picked for you.
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50
New York Post V.A. Musetto
Too many cooks spoil the broth, and too many directors spoil the anthology film Paris Je T'aime.
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50
Variety l
Uneven but quite pleasant as a two-hour experience that acknowledges the idealized Paris people carry in their heads while wisely veering off the beaten track.
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50
Village Voice Ed Gonzalez
Paris, Je T'aime's brimming declaration of love to the City of Lights leaves one breathless but dissatisfied.
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50
LA Weekly Scott Foundas
The concept here holds more promise than the execution.
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50
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Most features composed of sketches by different filmmakers are wildly uneven. This one is consistently mediocre or slightly better, albeit pleasant and watchable. It helps that none of the episodes runs longer than five or six minutes.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 7.3 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Margaret C gave it an8:
I agree with earlier views in that "Some segments are easily dismissed" and as a whole about three or four segments could have been left out and the movie would have run much smoother. But those segments that took you in, captured you. That is what made the movie so worth seeing.

JoeJoe H gave it a7:
I will admit this movie didn't really get to me until about halfway through. Up until that point I thought many of the stories were nice ideas but not good short films. They felt trite, stunted, and underdeveloped. Then at a little over halfway through something changed and each segment got better and better until the final film which was worth the price of admission (in my opinion). Also, the "coffee" segment moved me more than movies 10 times its length.

Patrick F gave it a7:
Add one if you're a Francophile, subtract one if you took the Freedom Fries thing seriously, because this is basically an eighteen-stanza love letter to Paris. Some segments are easily dismissed (Maggie Gyllenhaal's is especially forgettable), some are priceless (Steve Buscemi in the Metro), some are heartbreaking (just try getting a cup of coffee afterwards). As a whole, there are far worse ways to spend an evening.

Valerie W. gave it a9:
Like a book of great short stories, only on film. It was so interesting to see each director's take on Paris. Even the ones I didn't like still added to the overall effect of the movie. Great song at the end - "We're All in the Dance".

Cheryl A. gave it a4:
After seeing this movie I figure it was made for the directors, critics, etc., not the general public. Maybe if I had been to Paris I would have enjoyed it more, but we were tempted to leave midway.

Mike F. gave it a10:
An acquired taste, but this ensemble of directors is simply beautiful.

Pat P. gave it a4:
Walked out after 7 of the stories. Stupid, incoherent, like a director's drug-induced set of dreams? And of course Paris is photogenic per one of the reviews. But the movie itself? Stupid.

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