Movie reviews
There he stumbles across a portal in time, which Gil accesses each night at the stroke of midnight, that allows him to step into the Parisian Golden Age of the 1920s, when the city’s bars and cafés were haunted by artistic giants such as Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll), F Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston), Salvador Dali (Adrien Brody) and Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates). Suitably inspired, Gil finds that his writing is vastly improved, particularly when he encounters Adriana (Marion Cotillard), lover of artists and Gil’s muse-in-waiting.
Woody Allen’s latest offering is yet another bitter-sweet love story, or rather love stories plural: Gil’s burgeoning romance with Adriana goes hand-in-hand with his falling head-over-heels for Paris, with Allen’s cameras ravishing both actress and city. It’s a fantastical tale, of course, and simultaneously something of a modern fairytale that celebrates the magic of filmmaking, and the possibilities of the imagination, while still having fun at the expense of those who insist on viewing the past through rose-tinted glasses. Wilson makes for a perfect Everyman as he bumbles and stumbles from present to past, suitably awed by the reputations of the greats he encounters, yet never so star-struck that he can’t have a little fun with his outrageous stroke of good fortune. There’s a very strong chemistry between he and Cotillard too, her smouldering intensity a counterpoint to his laidback slacker style, while the characterisations of the famous artists are affectionately drawn larger-than-life exaggerations. Allen winds up in appropriately happy-ever-after fashion, and it would take a hard heart indeed to begrudge Gil his happiness, or Allen his long-awaited return to form.
