Paris, je t’aime (Paris, I love you), a film anthology, starring an ensemble cast of actors of various nationalities, consists of 18 shorts set in different arrondissements (districts).
The 22 directors include Gurinder Chadha, Sylvain Chomet, Joel and Ethan Coen, Isabel Coixet, Gérard Depardieu, Wes Craven, Alfonso Cuarón, Nobuhiro Suwa, Alexander Payne, Tom Tykwer, Walter Salles, Yolande Moreau, and Gus Van Sant.
Initially, 20 shorts representing the 20 arrondissements of Paris were planned, but two of them (the 15th, directed by Christoffer Boe, and the 11th, by Raphaël Nadjari) were not included in the final film because they could not be properly integrated into it.
Each arrondissement is followed by images of Paris, in transition sequences written by Emmanuel Benbihy and directed by Benbihy with Frédéric Auburtin.
Including Benbihy, there were 22 directors involved in the film.
Montmartre 18th:
Bruno Podalydès A man parks his car on a Montmartre street and muses about how the women passing by his car all seem to be “taken”. Then a woman passerby faints near his car, and he comes to her aid. Bruno Podalydès, Florence Muller
Quais de Seine 5th
Paul Mayeda Berges and Gurinder Chadha
A young man, hanging out with two friends who taunt women who walk by, strikes up a friendship with young Muslim woman.
Cyril Descours, Leïla Bekhti
Le Marais 4th
Gus Van Sant A young male customer finds himself attracted to a young printshop worker and tries to explain that he believes the man to be his soulmate, not realizing that he speaks little French.
Gaspard Ulliel, Elias McConnell, Marianne Faithfull
Tuileries 1st
Joel and Ethan Coen
A comedy in which an American tourist waiting at the Tuileries Metro station becomes involved in the conflict between a young couple after avoiding eye contact with people.
Steve Buscemi, Axel Kiener, Julie Bataille
Loin du 16e 16th
Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas
A young immigrant woman sings a Spanish lullaby (“Que Linda Manita”) to her baby before leaving it in daycare. She then takes long commute to the home of her wealthy employer (face unseen), where she sings the same lullaby to her employer’s baby.
Catalina Sandino Moreno
Porte de Choisy—13th
Christopher Doyle Doyle, Rain Kathy Li, Gabrielle Keng Peralta
A comedy in which a beauty products salesman makes a call on a Chinatown salon run by a woman who proves to be a tough customer.
Barbet Schroeder, Li Xin
Bastille 12th
Isabel Coixet
Prepared to leave his marriage for a much younger lover, Marie Christine, Sergio instead decides to stay with his wife after she reveals a terminal illness, and in the process, he rediscovers the love he once felt for her.
Leonor Watling, Sergio Castellitto, Miranda Richardson, Javier Cámara
Place des Victoires–2nd
Nobuhiro Suwa
A mother grieving over the death of her little boy is comforted by a magical cowboy.
Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Martin Combes
Tour Eiffel- 7th
Sylvain Chomet
A boy tells how his mime artists parents met in prison and fell in love.
Paul Putner, Yolande Moreau
Parc Monceau 17th
Alfonso Cuarón
An older man and younger woman meet for an arrangement that a third person (“Gaspard”), who is close to the woman, may not be happy about.
It is revealed the young woman is his daughter, and Gaspard is her baby.
This segment was shot in a single continuous shot, almost five minutes long.
When the characters walk by a video store, posters of films by the other directors of Paris, je t’aime are visible in the window.
Nick Nolte, Ludivine Sagnier
Quartier des Enfants Rouges–3rd
Olivier Assayas
An American actress procures strong hashish from a dealer whom she gets a crush on.
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Lionel Dray
Place des fêtes–19th
Oliver Schmitz
A Nigerian man dying from stab wound in the Place des fêtes asks female paramedic for a cup of coffee. It is revealed that he had fallen in love at first sight with her previously. By the time she remembers him, and has received the coffee, he has died.
Seydou Boro, Aïssa Maïga
Pigalle–9th
Richard LaGravenese
An aging couple act out fantasy argument for a prostitute in order to keep the spark in their relationship.
Bob Hoskins, Fanny Ardant
Quartier de la Madeleine–8th
Vincenzo Natali
In this silent segment, young backpacker travelling at night stumbles across a corpse—and a vampire feeding on it.
Though initially frightened, he falls in love with her, and cuts his wrist to attract her with his blood. The wound causes the backpacker to fall down the stairs and strike his head against the pavement in a fatal injury, but the vampire reappears and feeds him some of her own blood, turning him into a vampire and allowing the two to begin a relationship.
Elijah Wood, Olga Kurylenko
Père-Lachaise 20th
Wes Craven
While visiting Père Lachaise Cemetery, a young woman breaks up with her fiancé, who then redeems himself with the advice from the ghost of Oscar Wilde.
Emily Mortimer, Rufus Sewell, Alexander Payne
Faubourg Saint-Denis 10th
Tom Tykwer
After mistakenly believing that his girlfriend, a struggling actress, has broken up with him, young blind man reflects on the growth and decline of their relationship.
Natalie Portman, Melchior Beslon
Quartier Latin–6th
Frédéric Auburtin and Gérard Depardieu Gena Rowlands
A separated couple meet at a bar for one last drink before the two officially divorce.
Ben Gazzara, Gena Rowlands, Gérard Depardieu
14e arrondissement–14th
Alexander Payne
Nadine Eid Carol, a letter carrier from Denver, Colorado on her first European holiday, recites in amateur French what she loves about Paris.
Margo Martindale
Julio Medem was attached to the project, and was supposed to direct one of the segments, but this finally fell through because of scheduling conflicts.
Paris, je t’aime is the first feature film to be fully scanned in 6K and mastered in 4K in Europe (as opposed to 2K).
Emmanuel Benbihy and Gilles Caussade served as exec- producers on the project.
There were also producers attached to each episode of the project.
After the success of Paris, je t’aime, a similarly structured film, New York, I Love You, focusing on life in that city, premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in a limited number of theatres in 2009. A third entry in the series, Rio, Eu Te Amo, was released in 2014.
The film premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival on May 18, opening the Un Certain Regard selection.
First Look Pictures acquired the North American rights, and the film opened in the United States on 4 May 2007.
“Paris je t’aime is uneven, but there are more than enough delightful moments in this omnibus tribute to the City of Lights to tip the scale in its favor.”
