So ist Paris (Paris)
France 2008

Opening 17 Jul 2008

Directed by: Cédric Klapisch
Writing credits: Cédric Klapisch
Principal actors: Juliette Binoche, Romain Duris, Fabrice Luchini, Albert Dupontel, François Cluzet

Director Cédric Klapisch’s theme of Paris has been used so often that it is hard to come up with something fresh and different, but he seems to have managed just that. The start of the film is a patchwork of people’s lives which slowly begins to be threaded loosely together. Klapisch focuses on the common people living there who are trying to get through life in a very expensive and crowed city full of diversity. Juiette Binoche plays Elise, a social worker whose dying brother Pierre (Romain Duris) needs her help; she decides to move in with him with her three kids. Roland (Fabrice Luchini), a history professor, has a midlife crisis and falls madly in love with one of his students. At the same time he is jealous of his brother who is successfully married and has kids and a great job. There are the men who work at the vegetable factory and each night try their chance at love. Klapisch would agree with Forrest Gump that life like is a box of chocolates, and people should make the most of life. (Shelly Schoeneshoefer)