If I were Catherine Deneuve, I'd be miffed, because she's practically the only big-name French actor who isn't in "Paris."
The Deneuve slight notwithstanding, "Paris" is an astonishingly generous movie. It has an enormous cast, but it makes sure each actor is given something specific and vibrant to do. It is jam-packed with music, ranging from Dizzy Gillespie bebop to Rosemary Clooney to a punk song that a bunch of adorable kids dance like crazy to. Scenes take place at a fish market, a fashion show, a castle, a bakery and a university, and the film encompasses both the classic, mansard-roofed version of Paris we're most familiar with as well as modern, gleaming skyscrapers.
Heck, "Paris" is such a stunningly pretty film that I'd recommend it even if I didn't care about the people standing in front of the glorious architecture, the autumn trees and the glittering Seine. But I did care about them, a lot, because writer/director Cedric Klapisch has so much affection for almost all of them (the one exception is a cartoonishly nasty bakery owner played by Karen Viard).
Just to give you an idea, there's Juliette Binoche, having fun for once (although, as usual, in the midst of tragedy) as a social worker who tries to cheer up her dying brother (Romain Duris). There's Melanie Laurent, from "Inglourious Basterds," as a student who's stalked by a professor (Fabrice Luchini), and Francois Cluzet as a builder in the midst of a mid-life crisis.
You can't really get a sense of "Paris" by talking about the modest plot, which throws the characters together in a variety of (lovely) settings. It's more about how subtly and lovingly Klapisch observes bits of behavior: some teasing that turns ugly in mid-joke, the contrast between the way two lovers dance, how a piece of art reminds two brothers what they love about each other. My favorite is at a party, when Binoche turns down a younger man who wants to get busy with her.
"Don't you want to?" he asks, confused by the signals she's sending. "Yes," Binoche replies, her luminous face betraying her conflict. "But no!"
It's a movie that is crammed with ambiguities like that, a movie that loves ambiguities like that. Klapisch's film asks whether it's possible to tell the story of a gigantic, complicated city by shining a light on the little stories of its people, and the answer is a resounding, "No. But yes!"
Directed by: Cedric Klapisch
Starring: Juliette Binoche, Romain Duris, Francois Cluzet
Rated: R, for language and partial nudity
Should you go? Oui! *** 1/2