Paris, also endearingly referred to as “The City of Love”, is a popular destination for travelers due to its cultural vivacity. Paris, Je T’aime, translated to “Paris, I Love You”, is a motley of short films in French that are each no longer than five minutes. Each of the 18 movies is connected through the common theme of love in Paris. The entire film does an excellent job of incorporating the beauty of the city without displaying it in a clichéd way. Instead, Paris is shown in a beautiful backdrop, while also including some of the darker aspects of the city.

Love is a complex emotion that is displayed in vastly different ways in this movie. The types of love mentioned include romantic love, familial love, and love of a place. This variety complements the goal of the movie to connect the audience to at least one of the films.

One of the most notable films is Quais de Seine, which begins with the interaction between three college-aged students, two of whom are obnoxiously degrading other women. The third boy, named Francois, quietly observes his friends and instead assists a beautiful Muslim girl, named Zarka, over a minor accident. Unlike his friends, Francois is able to develop a meaningful bond with a girl. He also learns the value in respecting other people in their cultures and overall identities. The surprising ending gives the audience perspective on how one’s initial opinion to something is not necessarily the truth.

Place des Victoires is heart wrenching as it focuses on a mother mourning the loss of her young son. What helps her move towards acceptance is a dream with a cowboy, one of her son’s favorite figures. Learning to overcome loss is an important idea that this short film successfully establishes.

Love is not exclusive to people. The final film, 14e arrondissement, centers on an American postal worker exploring the city of Paris.  She is a lonely middle-aged woman with a limited family. She is not married and her mother passed away. Nevertheless, she is able to fall in love with the film with a complex mixture of joy and sadness.

Another common aspect of each movie is the presence of an epiphany towards the end, which is not always predictable. Another remarkable movie is Faubourg Saint-Denis. A blind young man faces a misconception with the reality of his relationship with an American actress. Upon his realization, he declares the metaphorical line, “I see you”. This thought-provoking line indicates how complex some of these miniature movies are.

Overall, Paris Je T’aime, is well-received as an above average movie. Most of its short films are well executed. However, there were a few that detracted from the entire movie. Quartier de la Madeleine is a love story between a human and a vampire at night. Some faults were the ghastly bright red blood that was inevitably fake and the overall plot. The story seemed random and did not really mesh with the Paris theme. It was difficult to relate to, but the idea of supernatural love was an interesting idea, though the execution needs work.

Despite having a common theme, the diversity among these films is tremendous. There were 22 international directors involved in the making of this film from France, United States, Brazil, Japan, and more. The actors and actresses were also as international as the directors. Some of the more well-known actors include Natalie Portman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Elijah Wood.

A setback of the movie was the rocky transitions. The transitions were the background of Paris. Sometimes, there was not a feeling of consistency among the short films. It is understandably a difficult task because each story is so unique from the previous story. There was an attempt to connect the stories at the end, where is a quick look at some of the characters. However, most characters were not included. Although the transitions were not as cohesive as one would have liked, there was an attempt at this difficult feat.

The actors in the movies displayed their characters wonderfully, For example, one of the famous actresses, Natalie Portman played the girlfriend in Faubourg Saint-Denis, who is an aspiring actress. Her execution of going through a convincing break up was remarkable. It made one think that she was truly ending the relationship with her boyfriend.

The video camera shots are beautifully done, with the help of the scenery. Upon further research, certain film techniques were used. In Parc Monceau, the entire short film was recorded in one continuous camera shot with no close-ups. In Faubourg Saint-Denis, the stationary couple amongst the crowd of people in fast-forward motion is fascinating to watch, along with the flashbacks and the rewinding to the past.

With its variety of topics, there is at least one film an audience can relate to in Paris Je T’aime. Overall, it should be watched because the concept of incorporating so many short films into one movie is an unique idea, especially connecting it to the city of Paris.