Product Description
In 1936, the owner of a small vaudeville house in the Faubourg district of Paris faces work challenges from a local labor organizer and personal strugAmazon.com
Paris 36 is a hard-to-classify gem that transports the viewer to a fantasy world of Paris before Nazis rolled their tanks over French dreams and innocence. The characters spontaneously break into song, and the city looks highly stylized, reminiscent of Moulin Rouge. (Actually, the locale is a Paris suburb; the film's French name is Faubourg 36, the French word for "suburb," with "36" the year in which it's set.) The film's breakout star is its ravishing young lead actress, Nora Arnezeder, who plays Douce, a winsome, waifish, but quietly ambitious young chanteuse. Her fate becomes entwined with that of an old music hall, the Chansonia, which has fallen on hard times and then closed during the Depression of the '30s. But a touching, and hilarious, band of French oddballs join together to reopen the old hall, with the jolie Douce as its main attraction. If the plot is a bit predictable, it's still supremely enjoyable, and the characters engaging. Clint Eastwood's longtime cinematographer, Tom Stern, paints a beautiful world of contrasts. Outside, the world may be all gray cobblestone, but inside the Chansonia, awash in rich reds, golds and browns, music, and perhaps even love, can bloom. --A.T. HurleyAlso Recommended...
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful:
Nice music but the movie dodges tough issuesShe's played by the lovely young Nora Arnezadar in her movie debut. A featurette also included in the DVD tells how Arenzadar was discovered at an audition and adds a "Star Is Born" commentary to the movie. She is indeed by far the best thing in the movie, apart from the music which is great.
There are a couple of side plots about how Pigoli's wife abandons him and takes away his beloved son, Jo-Jo, who is learning the accordian. This movie works hard to move the viewer's tear glands, never missing a chance to go for the cheap, emotional effect. The musical interlude toward the end of the movie is charming. The songs are oh-so-Parisian and very evocative.
But this movie flirts with something bigger. It continually alludes to the political situation, with the socialist government of Leon Blum battling strikes, the menacing presence of Hitler just across the border and the growth of ultra-right racism in Paris itself. Yet the movie ultimately dodges and ducks all these questions. We know that the Germans will soon occupy Paris and we want to know what happened to the protagonists. But the movie doesn't tell us. We see Pigoli released from prison in 1945 and we know that Jo-Jo grows up to be a star -- but we don't know what happens to Douce and her lover.
This movie is quite enjoyable -- but ultimately soft and saccharin.
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Excellent views of Paris0 out of 0 people found this review helpful:
AMAZING1 out of 1 people found this review helpful:
Wonderful and Entertaining1 out of 2 people found this review helpful:
French musical history