Paris, je t'aime ("Paris, I love you") is a 2006 Anthology Film starring an ensemble cast of actors of various nationalities.
The two-hour film consists of eighteen short films set in different arrondissements of Paris. The 22 directors include Olivier Assayas, The Coen Brothers, Gus Van Sant, Sylvain Chomet, Alfonso Cuarón, Vincenzo Natali, Wes Craven, and Alexander Payne, among others.
This anthology film contains examples of:
- Age-Gap Romance:
- "Bastille" is about a man prepared to leave his marriage for a much younger woman, but instead decides to stay with his wife after she reveals a terminal illness, and he rediscovers the love he once felt for her.
- "Parc Monceau" is about an older man and a younger woman who meet for what looks like a date. Subverted when it's revealed that they are actually father and daughter.
- Amicable Exes: "Quartier Latin" is about a separated couple who have one final date before the divorce papers are settled.
- Anthology Film: The film is composed of various short segments.
- Asian Rudeness: "Porte de Choisy" is about a beauty products salesman who makes a call on a Chinatown salon run by a woman, who proves to be a tough customer.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- "Parc Monceau" is about an older man and younger woman meeting for an arrangement. It at first looks like a romantic date, and they even discuss that a third person, "Gaspard", is close to the woman, and that he may not be happy about this fact (the woman is even played by Ludivine Sagnier, known for playing The Vamp in various French films). It is eventually revealed that the young woman is the older man's daughter, and Gaspard is her baby.
- "Quais de Seine" features a young man flirting with a young Muslim woman and asking probing questions about her hijab, which she wears with pride. He eventually decides to follow her to her mosque and talk with her again, but she emerges with her grandfather. The older man seems stern and conservative, and it looks like things will end badly—but he turns out to be a kind, open-minded fellow who brags about his granddaughter's interest in journalism and praises the young man for studying history. The segment concludes with all three happily going to have tea together.
- December–December Romance: "Pigalle" and "Quartier Latin" are each centered about an aging couple.
- I Love You, Vampire Son: In "Quartier de la Madeleine", a tourist falls in love at first sight with a vampire. She seems to like him, but refuses to turn him... until he falls down the stone steps, nearly dies, and she gives him an Emergency Transformation. He rises again as a fearsome vampire, and they chomp on each other. Awwwww...!
- Love at First Sight:
- "Place des fêtes" is about a Nigerian man dying from a stab wound who asks a female paramedic for a cup of coffee. It is then revealed that he had fallen in love at first sight with her some time previously. By the time she remembers him and has received the coffee, he has died.
- This is also hinted at in "Quais de Seine," with the young Caucasian man and Muslimah woman clearly being attracted to each other.
- Mood Whiplash: In "Faubourg Saint-Denis," a man receives a phone call from his actress girlfriend telling him their relationship has run its course and that she's moving on. He hangs up then reflects on how they met and began dating. His girlfriend calls back at the end of the short to explain that she was practicing lines for an upcoming audition.
- The Oner: "Parc Monceau" is entirely filmed by one continuous shot. Given that it was directed by Alfonso Cuarón, this is to be expected of him.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Apparently, the ghosts of famous writers (or just Oscar Wilde) can help you if your girlfriend broke up with you at a famous cemetery.
- Our Vampires Are Different: It seems that in Paris at night, sultry vampiresses are roaming around. Also, vampires don't "turn" their victims by biting them—that just kills them. To become a vampire, you have to drink another vampire's blood yourself.
- Outliving One's Offspring: The "Place des Victoires" segment has a woman (played by Juliette Binoche) grieving over her recently deceased young son, repeating his (apparent last) words that cowboys do still exist to herself in a Madness Mantra kind of way. Her husband and daughter try to help her out of this, but she goes after hearing what seems to be her son's voice. There she's met by a magical cowboy (Willem Dafoe) and encounters the ghost of her son for one last reunion before accepting that she has to let him go, since her living loved ones need her.
- Spirit Advisor: "Père-Lachaise" is about a man who, after his fiancée breaks up with him while visiting the Père Lachaise Cemetery, redeems himself with the aid of advice from the ghost of Oscar Wilde.
- Vampires Are Sex Gods: "Quartier de la Madeleine" is about a young backpacker traveling late at night who stumbles across a corpse—and a vampiress (Olga Kurylenko) feeding on it. Though initially frightened, he soon falls in love with her, even attracting her with his own blood.
