Midnight in Paris

  Those that know me are well aware of the fact that I'm a huge francophile. According to my sister, I'm even verging on pretentious with it as she gets annoyed when I tell her random French facts daily, speak the language around the house, listen to French music and watch French films. Paris is one of my favourite cities and I'll be studying French at university as my aim is to become fluent. So, it's safe to say that I'm a French keeno. Therefore, it was perfect that I got 'Midnight in Paris' (2011)
as one of my birthday presents.

   The film stars Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers) as Gil Pender, a screenwriter who goes to Paris on holiday with his materialistic fiancée, Inez (Rachel McAdams- Mean Girls, Wedding Crashers), in order to get inspiration for the novel that he's writing. There, he begins to realise how different their goals as magic happens and he travels back in time to his ideal era- Paris in the 1920s.

  Midnight in Paris is an absolutely stunning film for various reasons. There is something for everyone; history, 'magic', romance, eye candy, comedy, music(lots of cool stuff from the Jazz Age-I had Cole Porter's 'Let's Do It' on repeat for days) and more. There are also many beautiful images of the city that'll you'll fall in love with and want to visit. If you're like me, you'll be hugely chuffed to recognise the places that you've been to.

  In addition, the film's star studded, ensemble cast are brilliant, recognisable faces such as Marion Cotillard (La Vie en rose, Inception) , Michael Sheen (Twilight saga), Adrien Brody (King Kong) and Kathy Bates (Titanic). I got to geek out over literary heroes being brought to life and Tom Hiddleston as F Scott Fitzgerald was spot on.

  Midnight in Paris was written and directed by Woody Allen and it's the first film of his that I've seen. I shall definitely be watching more of his films as I really enjoyed this one and the main message that I got from it was that even though the past can sometimes be appealing and seem as an ideal, it is always best to accept the present and live in it. The little squeal that I did whenever French was spoken and I understood it is proof that I've chosen the right degree. Thanks, Woody, for this gem of a film, a welcome breath of fresh air from the action packed films nowadays.

Rating 9.5/10