Dans Paris (2006)

Director:

Christophe Honoré

Writer:

Christophe Honoré (writer)

Release Date:

4 October 2006 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Anna has just left Paul who, annihilated by the separation, moves back with his father in Paris. His younger brother Jonathan...

Plot Keywords:

Depression | Father Son Relationship | Black Panties | Breakup | Male Nudity

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Romain Duris	...	Paul
Louis Garrel	...	Jonathan
Joana Preiss	...	Anna
Guy Marchand	...	Mirko, le père
Marie-France Pisier	...	La mère
Alice Butaud	...	Alice
Héléna Noguerra	...	La fille en scooter
Judith El Zein	...	La fille qui croit qu'il va pleuvoir
Annabelle Hettmann	...	La fille dans la vitrine
Mathieu Funck-Brentano	...	Le garçon à la cigarette
Lou Rambert-Preiss	...	Loup

Directed by
Christophe Honoré

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Christophe Honoré		writer

Produced by
Paulo Branco	....	producer

Original Music by
Alex Beaupain

Cinematography by
Jean-Louis Vialard

Film Editing by
Chantal Hymans

Casting by
Richard Rousseau

Production Design by
Samuel Deshors

Art Direction by
Emmanuelle Cuillery

Costume Design by
Pierre Canitrot

Makeup Department
Caroline Philiponnat	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Jean-Christophe Colson	....	production manager
Amaury Serieye	....	unit production manager
Julien Serieye	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Alexandra Denni	....	second assistant director
Julie Gouet	....	second assistant director
Julie Navarre	....	third assistant director
Sylvie Peyre	....	first assistant director
François Tessier	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Catherine Bourgeois	....	set dresser
Emmanuelle Cuillery	....	assistant art director
Geraldine Laferte	....	assistant set decorator
Tara Roy	....	property master

Sound Department
Valérie Deloof	....	sound editor
Thierry Delor	....	sound mixer
Frédéric de Ravignan	....	sound
Olivier Grandjean	....	boom operator
Johann Nallet	....	sound recordist
Agnes Ravez	....	sound editor

Stunts
Julien Vérité	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Fabrice Anut	....	grip
Marie Decourt	....	second assistant camera
Nabil Dridi	....	electrician
Jean-François Drigeard	....	rigger gaffer
Eric Gies	....	gaffer
Jean-Pierre Voisin	....	electrician

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Cécile Mille	....	dresser

Music Department
Armel Dupas	....	music arranger

Other crew
Mathilde Incerti	....	press attache
Aurélie Kazian	....	production assistant
Anne Mattatia	....	production assistant
Raoul Peruzzi	....	pre-production and post-production coordinator
Amaury Serieye	....	location manager

Production Companies

• Gemini Films
• Clap Filmes (co-production)
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (participation)
• CinéCinéma (participation)
• Canal+ (participation)
• Cofinova 2 (participation)

Distributors

• Gemini Films (2006) (France) (theatrical)
• Aventi (2007) (France) (DVD)
• Artificial Eye (2007) (UK) (theatrical)
• Films de l'Elysée, Les (2006) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• IFC Films (2007) (USA) (theatrical)
• IFC First Take (2007) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Imovision (2007) (Brazil) (theatrical)
• Potential Films (2007) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Two One Zero Films (2007) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Funfilm Distribution (2007) (Canada) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Film & Television Facilities  facility vehicles
• GLpipa  sound post-production
• Location Consulting & Facilities  cast trailers
• TEST  titles and opticals

Also Known As:

In Paris (International: English title)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

France | Portugal

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | Dolby SR

Certification:

Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | South Korea:15 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Loire, France

Company:

Gemini Films

Trivia:

In one scene of the film, where Jonathan walks in front of the cinema, two movie posters are shown. One is for A History of Violence (2005), a film which was also released in cinemas in France via the same distributor as this film. The other is for Last Days (2005) starring Michael Pitt, who co-starred with Louis Garrel in The Dreamers (2003).

Quotes:

Anna: I know you love me. That's the difference between us.
Paul: How can you know I love you? How can you be sure?
Anna: Before I followed you inside this hole, I lulled myself to sleep repeating "Paul loves me." I said it out loud hundreds of times, like a prayer. Meaningless words. We hardly knew each other. But something came about, something established. I believed you loved me. I had faith in your love. This belief never left me. We can pray to be loved by only one person. It's not the worst way to save a soul. You never prayed for my love. You never needed my love.

Movie Connections:

References Last Days (2005)

Soundtrack:

Handshakes

Paris as the typical city of love? Or as a means of breaking down those inside of it that love.

If Dans Paris comes across as inconsistent and a little bit wavy at times, then I suppose that's a good thing because all sorts of relationships can be exactly that; particularly as they near their end. What begins as a tale looking at the final days of a relationship between a man and a woman quickly develops into a tale about family relations between two brothers, their father (who's divorced) and the other brother's attitude to relationships with other women. The film carries a very deliberately wavy atmosphere: a light hearted and jovial, if a little annoying at first, aura before taking a step back and becoming more sombre before going back to being of a surrealist and attacking nature. The film's immediate closing tone, however, is one of small scale unity – one that taps into child-like innocence and brings everything back down to Earth.

Dans Paris, or 'In Paris' in English, is a film very aware of itself and where it places itself. Early on in the film, one character delivers a brief line of dialogue to the camera informing us that he is not necessarily the film's protagonist. When he does this, he is standing on the balcony of one of those typically Hollywood Parisian-set apartments that has a perfect view of the Eiffel Tower across the rest of the skyline. The intent is set up very early on, at least in regards to this particular character's actions. By identifying he is not the main character, he is disregarding his physical antics from the text as unimportant or not 'as' important as certain other characters'. But his substantial placement within the text is vital, as he and his entire ideation about the treatment of women is told in parallel with his brother's actions following his deeply unsettling break up.

Christophe Honoré's film tells the story of one man named Paul (Duris) going through a routine break up with a woman named Anna (Preiss); a failure to connect with her and her son Loup (Rambert-Preiss). But the director opts out of going down a specific tone via route of depression and sadness for the overall piece. Jonathan (Garrel) offers relief from what is, essentially, the primary focus, only not evidently so and his actions on a separate equilibrium offer the idea that everyone else's life goes on despite what's happening back at home involving loved one's and their problems. In this sense, the film might remind you of Nancy Myers' 2006 film The Holiday in its study of two people (women, in that film's case) at two different points in their lives regarding relationships. Only In Paris has a more affectionate study and its leads are slightly more tolerable.

Paul's actions very early on reflect uncertainty and are of a sporadic nature. He goes from seemingly suicidal when he takes a photograph of himself with many pills in his mouth to rather upbeat when he shares a joke with his brother and then back to being very angry again, all with in a small space of time. Rather than act as a distorted and inconsistent tone when studying the respective situation, I think the film is getting across the shock to the system following the break up and the sporadic, uncertain mindset the individual might find themselves facing as they come to terms with what's happened.

The film, I think, manages to just about balance its upbeat and surrealist scenes. The film will either revolve around Jon's goings on whilst on his way to the shops and the mis-adventures he gets involved in with other women; with the claustrophobic and darkly lit scenes of Paul and his father sharing a space inside, both left to stew over the fact that both of them have lost their female partners at some point in their lives. Brothers Jon and Paul act as binary opposites to one another: whilst one is cheeky, upbeat and enthusiastic and possesses the power speak to us; the other remains very much the opposite: serious and downbeat, even during the few scenes we see Paul early on with Anna, his partner. Writer/director Honoré delivers a look at how two different men act towards women and the prospect of loving women with Paul himself admitting he over evaluates things and situations with women, while Jonathan seems to jump from relationship to relationship without much in the way of problems or thought.

Honoré peppers the film with a variety of clocks or timepieces. There is also an emphasis throughout the film on time, perhaps alluding to the passing of time these characters require. What was refreshing was that the film realises that Paul's situation is far more interesting, overall, than Jon's and focuses on him more towards the end. Dans Paris is an odd experience, punctuated by 'funny' antics of one man and the downbeat antics of another. But overall, as a simultaneous study of colloquial romance and the aftermath of broken down romance, it works quite well.