Paul, played by Romain Duris, always intense, is not doing well. As the scenes unfold, information is sporadically revealed about his depressive state, which forces him to move back in, at over thirty, with his father and brother. A long and painful breakup with a woman who gave him a child. These are perhaps the most poignant sequences of the film. Paul must confront the gradual decay of feelings and the cruel but inevitable explanations with Alice. The director’s approach perfectly captures Paul’s disorientation. Happy memories mingle with the most painful ones. The story is not chronological. Rather, it follows Paul’s internal journey, which also includes his relationships with his father, excellently portrayed by Guy Marchand, and his brother, Jonathan.
Played by a lively Louis Garrel, this capricious teenager is the opposite of Paul. Enjoying life and its unexpected encounters, Jonathan doesn’t question things and tries to draw his brother into this joyful and painless world. He spends a good part of the film convincing his big brother, living as a recluse in a small room, to join him at the Bon Marché. Initially, Jonathan appears as the light-hearted aspect of the film. But gradually, he gains depth. He even goes so far as to jump off a bridge, imitating Paul’s gesture, to better understand him.
Family Secrets
The film also explores the relationships that different family members can have. As many personalities, as many secrets and anecdotes to share. But there is one that surpasses the others: the suicide of the sister at 17 years old. As in many families in such a case, the subject is not really taboo, but no one talks about it. The parents seem to have forgotten, the children question it. Rather than speaking about it to try to understand his son’s discomfort, the father is pragmatic. He wants to get him out of the house, force him to eat to give him a taste for life again. Off the mark. Eventually, Paul gradually comes out of his stupor by talking to his father about his sister and his leap from a bridge in an SOS form. Only his relationship with Alice remains in the shadows. As if it needed protection, despite the breakup.
On dark subjects such as depression and the suicide of a family member, one might expect a sober and unoriginal staging. Yet it’s quite the opposite. The jazzy soundtrack, dialogues both humorous and grave, and other originalities like the audience being addressed by Jonathan right from the start of the film. Everything contributes to surprising the viewer. In its genre, auteur cinema, Dans Paris is a success. Never boring or incomprehensible, this funny and nostalgic film deserves recognition.
