Rent Paris, 13th District (2022)

Visually beautiful and involving - Paris, 13th District review by Alphaville

If you miss Eric Rohmer and/or are a fan of Woody Allen’s Manhattan, you’re in for a treat. Director Jacques Audiard name-checks both on a Q/A on the DVD. Based on a comic book, the simple plot revolves around the lives and sexual relationships of four intelligent and likeable characters who live on the edge of Paris. In British hands this would have been a downbeat wallow in social realism. In Audiard’s hands it’s an elegiac celebration of life and love filmed in sparkling monochrome, sexually explicit but never prurient ? a welcome and deliberate antidote to what Audiard sees as today’s prudish age. Good to know the spirit of Rohmer is still alive and kicking across the Channel.

A spiky & sometimes engrossing film about falling in & out of love, set in a French apartment block - Paris, 13th District review by TB

This is a decent attempt to make a film about love and attitudes to relationships, set in the modern day.

4 different people interact, falling in love and breaking up, all whilst searching for meaning. There are some interesting moments, plus this film is unusual in that there is much more explicit sex than a normal film like this, which does give it an interesting edge.

As much as there was some interesting parts, for me it was very much a case of sometimes really being gripping, but then within a few minutes, going back to not particularly caring. The most interesting character was probably Lucie Zhang's Émilie. It is even more staggering when you consider that this is her first film. She gives a very natural & spiky performance, which often gives the film the boost it so desperately needs. Noémie Merlant is also great, showing both an angry & vulnerable side. Her story arc is good as well, although it does come to rather an abrupt & strange conclusion which I didn't really buy.

The other thing I liked was that it was shot in black and white. It may have seemed like a gimmick, but it actually really works well.

Certainly this is more than a standard romantic film, but I just wished it had had a better story

Over-rated and not very engaging - Paris, 13th District review by AH

Sorry to differ from all the positive reviews, but we found this a rather boring production, despite all the sex scenes, which just seemed like a series of "bonking" events linked by a thin and uninspiring plot line. It seems as though most films submitted to Cannes get highly promoted if they are (a) French and (b) made in black and white. I have no objection to either of these, nor to the use of subtitles, but it just seems that sometimes these alone give a film a head start in the minds of the critics without the need for an engaging story or particularly outstanding acting by the cast. My wife and I persevered to the end more out of determination than interest.