"Art is merely an antidote for the emptiness and meaningless of the world". Woody Allen must have had this quote hanging above his desk as he wrote the script for Midnight in Paris, a superficial examination of love and art made humorous by the neurotic main character's awkwardness.
The basic premise of the film involves a young engaged couple, Gil and Inez, who travel to Paris with Inez's parents. Inez is materialistic, and accepts Gil only because he is a successful Hollywood screenwriter. Gil, although successful, is not satisfied. An aspiring novelist, he hopes that the cobblestone paved streets of Paris will divulge the inspiration of men who once strolled it's avenues - men such as Hemingway and T.S. Eliot.
Walking the streets in creative angst one night, a clock tower strikes midnight (how original). A vintage peugeot rattles by, filled with Parisian partiers who invite Gil to accompany them. Suddenly, Gil finds himself not in modern day Paris, but the Paris of the 1920s- one filled with flappers, swanky all-night parties, and classic writers. And, of course an attractive mademoiselle named Adriana.
As Gil wanders throughout Paris during the daytime with Inez and during the night with Adrianna, he stumbles upon numerous writers and artists such as Picasso, Henri Matisse, Gertrude Stein, and T.S. Eliot. It is while talking to Adriana that Gil realizes how unsatisfying life is when one dwells on past "golden times", and resolves to live his present moments to the fullest - the only redeeming resolution made in the film.
When one looks through the glass goblets of wine and beyond the immortalized Eiffel tower, the questions presented the film are still sitting in the stars - What is beauty? The purpose of art? Love? Woody Allen, an Atheist, offers no answers, but reflects the depressing view of the "lost generation" described in Hemingway's
The Sun Also Rises. His main character, Gil, is left to search for meaning in a meaningless world.
While watching this film during my AP Literature class, I came to fully believe that there are two uncompromising and opposing worldviews in this world.
On one side, we are animals that started out as primitive beings who have improved through time and civilization. You only live once, and there is no need or cause for redemption.
On the other side, we are created in the image of God and started out as human beings graced by personality and intelligence. However, we currently are degraded and possess a fallen nature. We are in need of redemption. With these two views on the sidelines, it is much easier to analyze literature and film while recognizing the roots of their author's worldview.
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