During this semester I have been taking an introductory survey of film course, and I have learned to basically “take everything into account” because a movie isn’t simply just a movie. This class gives me English literature war flashbacks, but I have to admit it’s fun to watch a film to overthink later and see how “the little things” all come together to create a certain meaning.
Of the various movies we’ve watched, our most recent Midnight In Paris is one I found most enjoyable. Maybe it’s my bias because I love Rachel McAdams, or because of the familiarity Owen Wilson brought to the film, but overall it’s because this film was made to allow the viewer to analyze and make their interpretation of what the film meant as a whole.
Before I begin, I do want to mention that I am not a “movie buff,” so going in I had no idea who Woody Allen was as an actor or director, only that he was considered controversial. Additionally, I am not someone who normally watches movies to analyze and find an underlying meaning in it, only when the movie calls for it.
Overview (spoilers)
The film starts off by introducing us to beautiful and scenic Paris, where we are then introduced to our main character Gil (Owen Wilson), and his fiancee, Inez (Rachel McAdams). While the couple travels to Paris as a pre-wedding vacation, Gil, an unfulfilled screenwriter takes the trip as a means to help him gain inspiration and guide him to finishing his debut novel.
Through the first few minutes of the film we, the viewers, see how disconnected Inez and Gil are. Gil is someone who romanticizes his surroundings (in this case Paris and its history) and likes to advocate for new ideas, hence his aspiration to write a novel. Inez, on the contrary, fails to share this vision with Gil often ridiculing him for such ideas and instead constantly pushing him to stay set on continuing his successful path in screenwriting.
As a result of this disconnect between the two, Gil turns to find comfort in a walk alone around Paris where he then unexpectedly time travels back to Paris in the 1920s and meets artists of the Lost Generation including writers Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald as well as artists Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali. During his journey, he not only finds comfort among the writers who guide his inspiration but also finds love with one of Picasso’s (fictional) mistresses, Adrianna. Unlike, Inez, with who Gil finds little to no similarities, Adrianna and Gil share their feelings of finding comfort in the past.
Throughout this time travel trip, Gil finds his discontent for his current life and takes it as a wake-up call that, while he can’t change the time he lives in, he can change what makes his present life unfulfilling. While we don’t get the full details on how this goes for Gil, the audience can see Gil initiating the start of his new life in Paris.
My thoughts
My initial question after watching this movie was if the time travel had actually happened, or if it was simply just in Gil’s imagination or the effects of an actual tumor (as Inez previously suggested). However, I think it is safe to assume that the time travel actually did happen as towards the end of the movie the PI hired by Inez’ father to follow Gil, had gone missing and was shown to be back in France’s monarchical times.
Getting past this though, while watching the movie, I found that I related to Gil. Not in the way that he was having a whole crisis and dislike for his own life he time traveled to cope, but in the way that he found comfort in the past, tended to romanticize his surroundings and aimed to discover what he was truly meant to be or do with his life. While looking through discussion on what viewers found the movie to be about, the ones I found most intriguing was a video essay on how the movie represented how when we have feelings of trouble within ourself we turn to art to find comfort or consolation. Another was how we are a lost generation ourselves.
Besides the visually appealing backgrounds, I liked how Midnight in Paris allows you to make your own interpretation. I found that I interpreted the movie to be as a sort of message that, often when we feel trouble or a disconnect with our current selves, we tend to find ways to escape this feeling whether it be through being busy, going out, listening to music, or like Gil thinking about the past. However, despite this avoidance, like Gil, we can’t just stay there forever, we can’t just chose to ignore our present, eventually we have to come back to reality and face our problems, because it’ll just pile up like Gil who let his unfulfilling career and relationship develop into something that he soon grew to dislike.
Midnight In Paris, teaches us that our present may not always be what we want or expect, but if we desire change in it the only one responsible for that change is ourself. Choosing to avoid your reality is ultimately a waste of time, and just overall unproductive. It’s important to live in reality and try our best to embrace it because there’s simply no use in living a life that we tend to avoid and later find regret in.
Of course, this is just my interpretation. If you are into movies that leave you to not only overthink their meaning but make you reflect on your life, this is definitely a movie worth watching! If you’re not into that, just simply watching the movie for beautifully put visuals and a laugh is a also a great option.