The New Hampshire

Issue date: 3/28/08 Section: Arts & Living

Media Credit: Courtesy Photo

One of my biggest fears is a quarter-life collapse, a complete and irrefutable failure that forces me to retreat in utter defeat to my parents' home. This is exactly what happens to the roughly 30-year-old Paul in one of the best movies from 2006, the French film "Dans Paris," which has just recently been released on DVD in America. Watch it. The film incorporates all sorts of stylistic devices, from a narration that breaks the "fourth wall" to a scene that seems lifted from a musical. "Dans Paris" is exuberant, heartfelt storytelling, an affecting and satisfying mix of comedy and drama that I relished every minute of.

The story begins with Paul's younger brother, the roughly 20-year-old Jonathan, who addresses us as he stands on the terrace of his family's apartment (which has a very nice view of the Eiffel Tower, actually). "It was all my fault," he says. "If I would've stopped him from leaving Paris, all this never would have happened." Jonathan is referring to Paul's decision months before to move into the country with his girlfriend, Anna, and her son Loup. The movie then shows us the gradual collapse of Paul and Anna's relationship, a classic case of l'amour fou ("mad love" for non-francophiles). In one scene, after sex with Anna, Paul immediately takes a shower and Anna tells Paul he does this because he feels "dirty" with her. Not necessarily a conversation you would find in pleasant relationship. The couple's problems actually seem to be based on a general malaise rather than any single devastating event. Anna points out another possible problem to Paul: "You never needed my love." Then things get worse. At one point Paul puts a full bottle of prescription pills in his mouth and takes a picture of himself, crying, the white medication sticking like ticks to his tongue. He spits them out. Paul is played by up-and-coming leading man Romain Duris as an intense yet fragile man, and Anna, though she only appears briefly, is played by Joana Preiss as a cold yet attractive woman.

This is only the beginning of the movie, however. Cut to Jonathan sleeping naked on the living room couch. He is awoken by his father, Mirko, played by veteran French actor Guy Marchand, who nudges his son over and turns the volume up on a television game show. Apparently Jonathan came in late last night and has to be at a university class by twelve. Louis Garrel is Jonathan, and you may remember him from "The Dreamers," a Bernardo Bertollucci film from several years ago. Garrel is absolutely essential to the film -- his portrayal of Jonathan as an aloof, slightly goofy, happy-go-lucky ladies man provides some much needed lightness to the film. He's also a perfect foil for Romian Duris' morose, introspective Paul. Mirko suggests that Jonathan cheer his brother up, who has now moved back in with his family following the degeneration of his relationship with Anna. As we later see, Paul's like a zombie, almost in a vegetative state. Jonathan grudgingly obliges -- not because he doesn't want to help his brother, but because it is his father who suggests it.

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