For my project, I will be analysing the film ‘Midnight in Paris’ using key media concepts, including Media Language (mise en scene, camera, sound etc.), Institution, Genre, Representation, Audience, Ideologies and Narrative. I hope to find inspiration in the character’s personal journey as they experience Paris and apply it to my animation, which also shows similar themes of growth and change.
~ A Quick Note ~
I had heard of this film before but never watched it, until a week or so ago when I felt it necessary to better grasp my project’s themes. With each minute that passed, I was more inspired, mesmerised, and more in awe than I have ever been when watching something, and I can now say that this has become my favourite movie of all time, and I wish that I had seen it sooner. Midnight in Paris has inspired me and I am so happy to have found it, and be able to talk about it in relevance to my project, with the same passion that I discovered after watching the final scene. Enjoy!
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Midnight in Paris is a 2011 fantasy comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. We follow Gil Pender, a screenwriter and aspiring novelist who is vacationing in Paris with his fiancee. At midnight, he encounters a group of strange – yet familiar – revellers, who sweep him along, back in time, for a night with some of the Jazz Age’s icons of art and literature. As his love for Paris grows, Gil is forced to confront the shortcomings of his relationship with his materialistic fiancée and their divergent goals, which become increasingly exaggerated as he travels back in time each night at midnight. The movie explores themes of nostalgia and modernism.
Produced by the Spanish group Mediapro and Allen’s US-based Gravier Productions, the film premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and was released in the United States on May 20, 2011. Not only is it considered one of Allen’s best films in recent years and opened to critical acclaim, but was also nominated for Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Art Direction, and won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay in 2012.
Considering the fact that this film was directed by Woody Allen, this should come as no surprise. The American film director, writer, actor and comedian has made multiple Academy Award-winning films throughout his career, which has spanned for more than six decades. He has worked with Warner Bros. Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, and Lionsgate as distributors for his directed features, and he currently holds the record for the most Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay, with over 16 nominations and three wins. Allen has also been nominated for Best Director seven times and won for Annie Hall. In addition to writing, acting and directing, he has also written and performed in a number of Broadway theatre productions, so it is safe to say that his experience in film is amazingly broad. With this in mind audiences most likely go into his films with great expectations, since his achievements and works show extensive knowledge in visual entertainment.
I also did some research on Mediapro, co-producers alongside Allen’s company Gravier Productions. They are a multimedia communications group in Spain, founded in 1994 Barcelona. They are described as the leading independent production company throughout the entire audiovisual value chain, unique in content integration, production and audiovisual distribution. With revenue of 1.967 billion EUR and operations worldwide through 58 offices distributed across 35 countries, Mediapro’s resources and technical means are at the forefront of innovation in the international audiovisual field. This allows them to provide the creativity and technical solutions necessary to design, produce and distribute movie and television as well as media and other multi-channel projects.
I wanted to take a closer look at their filmography and see if they truly utilised state-of-the-art technology, as is claimed on their website. In the ‘Cinema’ section of their website, I discovered that they have produced more than 50 films acclaimed by critics and audiences and have won several of the most sought-after international rewards. I watched trailers of a few of the films that looked interesting to me. Most of them were in Spanish so I couldn’t fully understand, but what I gathered was that they create mostly comedy and drama films and explore deep morals and themes about life and culture, which in my opinion, makes good use of their available recourses and lives up to their online reputation.
With all of this in mind, the expectations of the audience only increase, now with the added desire to see something beautiful and moving. Mediapro’s interesting topics coupled with Allen’s impeccable storytelling would clearly make a combination resulting in a stunning movie and after watching it, I would have to agree.
The film itself, Midnight in Paris, was made in 2011 and set in the present day, 1920’s and briefly, between 1871 and 1914. For the most part, I’ll be focusing on the 1920s as this is the period that is most important to the story and the protagonist. The term Années Folles (“crazy years” in French) refers to this decade in France and was coined to describe the rich social, artistic, and cultural collaborations of the period. At this time, Paris was the home and meeting place of some of the world’s most prominent painters, sculptors, composers, dancers, poets and writers, so it would make sense that in the film, Gil continuously expresses a longing to experience the city during this time, being an aspiring writer himself. Allen clearly wanted to pay homage to this wonderful time in history, through a character that feels like he doesn’t belong in the present, simultaneously enrapturing audiences such as reformers and strugglers; people who love culture, art, history, and those who want to have been born in an earlier time.
Let’s revisit the plot through a more in-depth summary. Pasadena-based Gil Pender would rather be a novelist than a screenwriter, albeit being a successful one. He has little in common with his fiancée Inez or her wealthy conservative parents, whom Gil and Inez are with in Paris, accompanying them on her father’s extended business trip. A romantic at heart, Gil is against Inez’s sensibilities and would love to live in Paris so that he could write his novel full time, that novel which is a fantasy of his own life, complete in wanting to live in what he considers the golden era, 1920s Paris. He also has little in common with Inez’s friends, most specifically Paul and Carol Bates. The character of professor Paul is almost an antagonist in the story, and who Gil believes is pedantic and spouts of everything from anything, but who Inez believes is brilliant. One evening while Inez ditches Gil for an evening out with Paul, our protagonist gets picked up by a group of party-goers in a 1920s vintage vehicle, who invite him along to their party, which is where the story truly begins. At the party, Gil meets the couple of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, their names which he initially believes are a coincidence. He quickly comes to the realization that he has been transported back to 1920s Paris and the two are indeed the couple famed in literature. On subsequent evenings, Gil learns that he can travel back to this, his dream setting, at midnight every night to the exact location transported by the 1920s vehicle. Subsequently, he meets and befriends the elite of Paris arts and culture of the time, including Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, and Salvador Dalí. Gil initially plans to share this revelation with Inez, until he meets Adriana, a muse of Picasso’s and a seeming mutual attraction seems to grow between them. Although he would love for his midnight trips to last forever, his time with Adriana especially shows Gil what he is truly striving for in his present twenty-first-century life, which surprisingly, is not to escape the ever-changing present, but rather, to be understood and loved by someone who either shares his passions or at the least, respects them, which we are repeatedly shown that his fiancee does not.
A great influence from the ’20s that is shown in the film is modernism, which is both a philosophical movement and an art movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Rapid social change, and advances in science and the social sciences after an era of industrialisation resulted in many modernists feeling alienated from Victorian morality, optimism, and convention. New ideas emerged, in psychology, philosophy, and political theory kindled a search for new modes of expression. The modernistic impulse fueled and impacted areas such as literature, architecture and arts, changing the way people lived in a very dramatic way. This shift was felt especially in France, where the arts were especially relevant, and with new, forward-thinking thinkers and dreamers, more and more famous artists and writers were being introduced to the world. Some of these figures are included in Midnight in Paris in order to hint at the transformation the world was going through.
Gertrude Stein was a wealthy American art collector and writer who dominated the Paris avant-garde in the days of Picasso. She was undoubtedly one of Picasso’s boldest collectors and the object of one of his most revolutionary paintings. Picasso’s Portrait of Gertrude Stein, which hangs on her wall in the film, shows her wearing a mask of her own in her modernist literary classic that portrays herself through the eyes of her lover Alice B Toklas. Stein was a stone idol and embodies, in her own writings and Picasso’s painting, the severity of high modernism.
Ernest Hemingway needs no introduction if you have seen the films, because he speaks as he writes, in bold, authoritative sentences that contrast hilariously with the hero’s flaccid Californian English. Hemingway was the one who truly created a modern American voice in literature, though sometimes heightened, direct and clear. He had to go to Paris in order to achieve this though, which is why he is seen in the movie. In his first scene in the film, he asks Owen Wilson if he can box (Hemingway was stereotypically a ‘manly’ figure) and he is last seen, drunk, pleading for someone to fight him, which only showed the audience that the creative people during this period had dramatic, strong characteristics and were slightly crazy, which Allen perfectly shows is necessary to create art.
The Fitzgerald’s were some of the first people Gil met on his trip to the past. Francis Scott Fitzgerald was an American novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and short-story writer. He was best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age – a term which he popularised. His character and that of his wife provided one of the film’s funniest moments as, fresh from the future and not yet knowing he has time travelled, he puzzles over the coincidence that a man who happens to be named F Scott Fitzgerald also happens to have a wife called Zelda.
“It was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire.”—F. Scott Fitzgerald in Tales of the Jazz Age
Picasso and Matisse, the two greatest artists of the 20th century, also made a debut, flitting in and out of Stein’s salon in the film, just as they did in life. Picasso is young and intense, Matisse more like an old professor, which are again, very realistic depictions of them in their lives. Picasso painted his most revolutionary works in the 1900s and 1910s. His portrait of Gertrude Stein is one of the works in which he created the abstractionist freedom of modern art. In the 1920s, as the film wittily shows, he was in a second golden period, painting visceral images of sex.
In terms of Propp’s theory on character types in films, I would say these all fit into the role of helper, as that is precisely what they do throughout the film – help Gil take control of his life, follow his dreams and understand that he is in a toxic relationship. They all inadvertently give him, and the audience life lessons and through their eccentricity, we, along with the protagonist, are inspired to adopt different perspective or ways of thinking; to see life in a more abstract sense, or a problem in a more literal, grounded one. Hemmingway and Stein, however, fit into a second role, that of the donor. I believe that their words and actions went above simply helping Gil on his journey, they gave him something special, an understanding that changes his life. Stein does this by advising Gil on his novel and Hemmingway provides him with an insight into what true love really is.
Continuing onwards through the lens of Vladimir Propp’s theory, we can clearly tell that the hero is Gil, of course, but the villain is not so clear. As I mentioned earlier, Paul Bates could certainly fit into this role, as he is an active threat to Gil and Inez’s relationship, however, the audience comes to realise that their relationship was doomed from the start because of the couple’s juxtaposing ideals. Because of this, I am deeming both Inez and Paul the villains in the story, as well as Inez’s parents, because they represent the judgmental society that pushes away people like Gil because of their ‘unusual interests which dub them ‘weird’ or ‘crazy’. Inez continuously puts Gil down for his love of Paris and the 20’s, saying that he is ‘in love with a fantasy and doesn’t support his dream to become a novelist and her parents find him suspicious and unsocial, to the point where the father hired a detective to follow him on his walks.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have Adrianne, who is seemingly the opposite of Inez. She meets Gil on his first visit to her time period and they are drawn to one another. She is a free-spirited, fashionable young woman whose beliefs align with Gils as she also greatly appreciates the finer things in life, and feels like she was born in the wrong decade. She, of course, fits the role of princess, as the hero is chasing her throughout the film, always preferring to spend time with her instead of his to-be-wife, and enjoying it more as well. As the film progresses, we see Paul and Inez together and Gil and Adrianne together more and more, making it clear that a relationship with her is ideal for Gil and is what he needs to ‘achieve’. In my opinion, however, Adrianne diverges slightly from this old fashioned stereotype of being just a princess to be chased after. We also see her pains, struggles and aspiration in the film, and she feels like a well-rounded character despite perfectly complimenting the hero. At the end of the movie, she achieves her goal of living in ‘La Belle Epoque’, which to her, is the golden age of Paris, and in doing so, leaves Gil even though we believed her to be in love with him. Gil learns that the past will always seem more romantic and ideal than the present, because it is not the present, and that in actuality, all periods of time have their disadvantages as well as advantages. So, she also teaches him a life lesson and can be called a stronger donor than even Stein or Hemmingway.
I couldn’t really find a character to fit into the father, dispatcher or false hero roles, although several have hints of the qualities of each of these characters.
Other famous novelists, artists and filmmakers make cameos in the film, constantly reminding the viewer that the surreal experience they are watching occurs in one of the greatest creative periods in human history. The film is almost a dream for American literature majors, or in fact, the whole creative older generation, who would understand the references of the film and be especially charmed with the portrayal of their idols. Some moviegoers would be mystified watching it because cultural literacy is not often required at the movies anymore, and to see Zelda being playful, Scott doomed by his love and Hemmingway always speaking formal sentences of great masculine portent, brings a thrill to those who are familiar with and have studied them – most likely in their uni days, and so would be adults now. Despite this, and another one of the brilliant aspects of this film, you don’t need to know the characters to understand the message.
You’re taken along for the ride as a person who is nostalgic for older times is plunged into a different world, where he meets the greats and his artistic dreams can be fulfilled. Even a younger audience would be able to see, thanks to his reactions and the settings, that there is some unexplainable magic happening, enhancing not only the culture lovers’ view of France, but also those in the audience who aren’t familiar with this way of life, those who, let’s say, have grown up surrounded by technology, and an abundance of media and information already handed to them.
Let’s consider genre as well. Midnight in Paris is a comedy-drama, which is, in my opinion, an interesting mix, since the conventions of each are quite different to each other. For example, comedy films generally occur in bright places, with locations known for social events, naturalistic camerawork and characters that contras ‘normal’ people in order to create humour, such as the folly or the super-intelligent one who isn’t aware of social boundaries. Drama conventions, on the other hand, tend to involve intense social interaction which isn’t often seen in comedy films. They focus on portraying character development and conflict is at the heart of most drama films. The only way for a film to be executed within both genres is if it is able to strike a balance between the two and mix the overlapping conventions. For example, both dramas and comedies exhibit real-life situations, with generally quite realistic characters, settings and stories and this can be used as a middle ground between the comedic and dramatic sides of the plot.
Steve Neale states that genres all contain instances of repetition and difference, difference is essential to the to the economy of the genre.
According to Neale, a film and its genre is defined by two things: how much it conforms to its genre’s individual conventions and stereotypes and how much it subverts the genre’s conventions and stereotypes. Namely, in order to be considered a part of a genre, it needs to match its conventions, but simultaneously subvert them enough to be considered unique and not simply a clone of another film.
This is what Midnight in Paris executes perfectly in my opinion as the idea is original and there is a real balance between that and conventions. The film is structured with climatic events and anti-climaxes, to keep the audience emotionally attached and the tension ongoing, and the depiction of Gil’s hardships within a bad relationship and struggles of living in the 21st century evoke sympathy and understanding from the audience, making them desperately wish for a positive outcome.
That wish is drawn out and played on so that the form of realisation at the end of the film which rounds off the protagonist’s development and provides him with a happy ending is all the more satisfying. Throughout, there are also moments where his astounded reactions to his surroundings or his interactions with people make you laugh outright because of the realism and contrast between characters. Gil’s failing relationship with his fiancée and the extravagant personalities of his idols prove to be incredibly humorous and puncture the story with light-hearted moments that balance out the serious undertones of the themes and moral. Thanks to this, the film fulfils both the purpose of a dramatic storyline, which is to move the audience emotionally and that of a comedic one, which is to entertain.
In order to better see this in action, I have chosen one of the more fun parts of the film to analyse where this balance is done quite well.
We start the scene looking at Gil’s back as he rushed towards the door. This angle paired with the fast-paced music tells us that he was trying to get out of his hotel room, either out of excitement or fear. We immediately realise it was fear of getting caught when he opens the door to his fiancée and her parents and yelps in surprise, showing his shock of seeing them back from their trip outside. The music abruptly stops in time with this, to communicate that Gil’s plans were interrupted upon seeing his future family, which automatically paints a negative view of them in the audience’s mind, as they are preventing Gil from doing what he wants to. As they filter in, and Gil asks them questions in a flustered manner, the camera angle changes to show the father talking about his injury, the mother calling someone on the phone, and Inez walking in the background. In the film, an earlier scene was when Gil was on one of his trips to the past, so this shift back to ‘normality is seen as negative because there is a contrast between the magical and boring sides of the hero’s life at the moment. It’s also what makes this scene so funny, as we can tell that Gil has trouble returning to this normality, almost as if he was living in a dream or daze, and like the music stopping, was suddenly brought back to reality. The lighting and colours also reflect this, as they remain bright yellow throughout to show his nervousness at getting caught going out with a gift for his lover, and in general around Inez and her parents (yellow is often associated with fear in movies).
When his fiancée starts questioning him, their dialogue is presented as very chopped up and back and forth, because they are in separate frames, whereas couples are usually shown together. This is to express the distance between them, which didn’t exist at the start of the film. Inez’s accusing tone paired with Gil’s agitated answers only adds to this, telling us very clearly that he no longer loves her as he used to and that his trips to the ’20s are changing him.
These ideas and links are present in every scene if the viewer has a careful eye and looks for clues, aside from the obvious ones, to the character’s development. The one major criticism that I have for this film is the lack of diversity in the casting. All of the main characters are white and it creates this idea that only a certain group of people can have experiences of magic, time travel and self-discovery when in reality, people of colour have every bit a part of this and events relevant to it in history.
Watching this film has given me a lot of inspiration for the message that I want to present to the audience through my media products. Although it has themes like nostalgia, which aren’t very similar to mine, a lot of the film is centred around self-discovery, art and culture, which are extremely relevant themes for my project. I am taking away the references to history and contrast with the present day, as I think these resonate a lot with an audience similar to my target one – people who feel like they don’t belong, and dream of a different time.