Midnight in Paris As Comedy, Romance and Fantasy: Film Analysis

Genre: The genre of Midnight in Paris is “Comedy, Romance and Fantasy”.

Summary: Gil Pender is an optimistic writer. He is vacationing in Paris with his fiancé, where he tours the city all alone. On one such late-night journey, Gil encounters a group of strange revelers, who carried him along, apparently back in time, where he spends time with some of the great personalities of art and literature. The more time spent by Gil with these cultural heroes of the past, the more dissatisfied he becomes with the present.

1) Literary Devices

The literary devices used in the movie “Midnight Paris” are as follows:

· Protagonist

The central character in a story; the one upon whom the actions center is a protagonist, who faces a problem and must undergo some conflict to solve it.

The protagonist in this movie is Gil Pender.

· Antagonist

The character that opposes the protagonist is antagonist.

The antagonist in the movie is Inez.

· Climax

The point at which the conflict of the story begins to reach a turning point is climax.

The climax takes place when Gil and Inez break up.

· Conflict

The struggle between two opposing forces that is the basis of the plot is a conflict.

The two of the conflicts in the movie include 1) Gil’s struggle to finish his novel while trying to figure out and fix his relationship with his fiancé, Inez and 2) Gil’s struggle to let go of the past (the 1920’s particularly) and live in the present.

· Foreshadowing

A writer’s use of hints or clues to indicate events that will occur later in the narrative is foreshadowing.

Gil and Inez’s breakup is foreshadowed throughout the film. There are lots of differences between them. For instance, while talking to Adriana he says that she wants to live in Malibu whereas he wanted to settle in Paris. And that they both like Indian food, not all Indian food, but the pita bread, we both like pita bread. Also Inez has no passion whereas Gil is passionate about writing. These differences led to their breakup in the end.

· Symbol

Symbol is a person, object, idea or action that stands for something else.

Symbol used are 1) The car that takes Gil to the dance party where he meets Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. That antique car symbolizes the time period of the writers to whom that car takes Gil towards. 2) Paris symbolically represents Gil’s true love because of which he decides to live in Paris and leave his fiancée, Inez. 3) Inez tells her friends, Paul and Carol, about the main character Gil’s working on. The attributes of the character explained by Inez are the exact desires about which Gil talked at the beginning of the film while standing on a bridge over a pond. So, the main character of Gil’s book symbolizes Gil’s own wishes. 4) Gil trying to escape from Inez’s friends is seen multiple times in the movie. There is a scene where Paul and his wife offers Gil and Inez to a dance where Gil in order to escape refuses to go with them and prefers late-night walk in the streets of Paris while Inez goes with them. This escape symbolizes escape from all the worries of present life.

· Imagery

Imagery is the use of words that create visual representation of ideas in our minds.

Imagery in the movie is that the movie starts with some very beautiful shots of different locations of Paris. This imagery highlights the importance of Paris which is not merely a city but a desire of Gil.

· Irony

A contrast between appearance and actuality is irony.

Irony used is Inez is having dinner with her parents. On inquiry about Gil, she replies that he is strolling around Paris. She leaves then for dancing with Paul. Her mother says that they are sure that he doesn’t go dancing. While in the very next scene, Gil is seen dancing which is ironical.

· Understatement

A type of verbal irony in which something is purposely represented as being far less important than it actually is.

The fact that Gil and Inez are different from each other i.e. they have very less things in common is consistently understated throughout the film.

1) Human values

· Passion

Gil’s passion for writing is the most dominant human value found in the movie. His fiancée, Inez thinks that it’s just a waste of time and hopes that he would go back focusing on making money. Whereas Gil is optimistic that he might be able to create something creative and meaningful. His passion makes him think so.

· Self-confidence

It is quite evident from the start of the movie that Gil lacks self-confidence in himself. When given a chance, he asks Hemingway to look at his novel and give him some good piece of advice for his novel. Hemingway is of the view that it is the writer himself who judges his writing and that a great writer merely makes observations. This gave Gil some self-confidence.

· Ambivert personality

Gil is a very social and down to earth person and is happy in even the little things. He has a good sense of humor. In short, Gil is a great guy who doesn’t seem to fit into his own “great” life. Despite of him being social he is seen quite introverted and unsocial when he is with Inez’s friends. He seems to ignore as he doesn’t feel comfortable with her friends.

· Idealizing the dream

Gil lives a dream of whom he wishes for. He always wanted to meet the artists he admired. He idealizes Paris in 20s very much and thought of it as the “golden age”.

· Nostalgia

Nostalgia is a human value which means longing for the past, and it happens when a person is not satisfied with their present. It is basically an escape from the worries and difficulties a man is experiencing. It’s important to understand that the things which you are nostalgic about have some bad moments as well. Somehow, Gil also managed to realize that the 20s had some negative moments as well and that the present is not always bad.

· Love

The other value associated with human is love which is found in this movie several times. Such as Gil’s love for Paris, especially during rain. Then the love which is seen between him and his fiancé. Later in the movie, Gil falls in love with a girl, Gabrielle, who works at an Antique store where Gil used to go to find Cole Porter’s records. As Gil likes to walk in Paris streets while it rains, she too does not mind getting wet in rain in the beautiful city of Paris. She in fact also liked walking in the rain in Paris and considered it beautiful as he did.

· Clash of opinion

Firstly, there is a clash in the opinions of Gil and his fiancé’s father. It is seen in the beginning of the movie that when Gil and Inez were having dinner with Inez’s parents, Gil argued with Gil’s father and explained to Inez pointing to his father that they respect each other’s views where as his father looked at him as if he totally disagreed with him. Secondly, there is a clash with Inez’s friend, Paul, as well. Gil argues with Paul about Picasso paintings at the museum. Then there’s a scene where Gil, Inez, Paul and Carol are listening to a guide who’s telling a story about Rodin. Paul thinks he knows more about Rodin, but the guide corrects him. Paul doesn’t agree with the guide and starts arguing with her. Gil backs the guide up and tells Paul she’s right. Later, Inez and Gil are attending an art exhibit with Paul and Carol. Again Paul is showing of his knowledge and starts talking about a Picasso painting. Gil saw that exact painting the night before, when he met Picasso and tells them the real story behind it. It shuts them all up.

References:

1. Retrieved from: http://joyce-octobersky.blogspot.com/2012/11/movie-moments-midnight-in-paris.html?m=1