A declaration of love to the City of Love. Eighteen renowned filmmakers have created their own vignette, each based in one of the arrondissements of Paris, to form a collection of short films embracing a love of the world's most romantic city. Each brings their individual vision, underlining the wide variety of styles, genres, encounters and the various atmospheres and lifestyles that prevail in the neighbourhoods of Paris. "Paris is known as the 'City of Lights'... a city of culture... of fine dining and magnificent architecture. Paris is a city for lovers: lovers of art, lovers of history, lovers of food, and lovers of... love."
The assortment of celebrated international directors contributing to this collection includes Gurinder Chadha, Sylvain Chomet, Joel and Ethan Coen, Wes Craven, Alfonso Cuarón, Nobuhiro Suwa, Alexander Payne, Tom Tykwer, Walter Salles and Gus Van Sant. Starring in the films are some of the finest actors and actresses with Natalie Portman, Juliette Binoche, Steve Buscemi, Bob Hoskins, Nick Nolte, Elijah Wood and Maggie Gyllenhaal among many others.
Montmartre
Bruno Podalydès
A lonely and frustrated man helps a woman with hypoglycemia when she faints by his parked car, initiating a relationship with her.
Quais de Seine
Gurinder Chadha
A young man with two friends are taunting women who walk by. When a young Muslim girl, Zarka, stumbles and falls on a pavement, François goes to her aid. They feel an attraction for each other and he is left wondering whether she is the girl of his dreams.
Le Marais
Gus Van Sant
A man and woman visit a printer. While she discusses the work in hand, he finds himself attracted to a young employee, trying to explain that he believes the man to be his soulmate, not realising that he speaks little French.
Tuileries
Joel & Ethan Coen
An American tourist waiting for a train in the métro becomes involved in the conflict between two young lovers.
Loin du 16e
Walter Salles & Daniela Thomas
A poor young woman leaves her son in a crèche and travels across Paris to work, caring for the child of a bourgeois mother.
Porte de Choisy
Christopher Doyle
Absurd tale of a beauty products salesman visiting a Chinatown salon run by a woman who proves to be a tough customer.
Bastille
Isabel Coixet
A husband planning to leave his wife for a much younger woman meets her in a restaurant when she tells him that she has terminal leukemia. For her sake he hides his feelings and shows compassion, and in doing so falls in love with her again.
Place des Victoires
Nobuhiro Suwa
A woman who has lost her beloved little boy and unable to resolve her grief is comforted by a magical cowboy.
Tour Eiffel
Sylvain Chomet
A boy tells the story of how his mime artist parents met in prison and fell in love.
Parc Monceau
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 approve of. Later it is revealed that the young woman is his daughter, and Gaspard is her baby.
Quartier des Enfants Rouges
Olivier Assayas
An American actress acquiring and using drugs while awaiting a shoot of a movie. She is disappointed when the drug dealer sends someone else to deliver her deal.
Place des fêtes
Oliver Schmitz
A young man and young woman meet for the second time in one day when Sophie, a paramedic, helps him as he is dying of a stab wound.
Pigalle
Richard LaGravenese
An older couple, Bob and Fanny, meet in a bar and act out a fantasy argument to rediscover some lost sensations in their relationship.
Quartier de la Madeleine
Vincenzo Natali
A gothic story in which a young backpacker tourist encounters a vampire attacking a victim whilst crossing a bridge, and falls in love with her.
Père-Lachaise
Wes Craven
A young woman breaks up with her fiancé while visiting the Père-Lachaise Cemetery. The young man redeems himself with the aid of good advice from the ghost of Oscar Wilde.
Faubourg Saint-Denis
Tom Tykwer
After mistakenly believing that his girlfriend, a struggling actress, has broken up with him, a young blind man laments on the growth and seeming decline of their once joyful relationship.
Quartier Latin
Frédéric Auburtin & Gérard Depardieu
A wealthy man and his estranged wife meet in a restaurant for one last drink and to discuss terms for an amicable divorce.
14e arrondissement
Alexander Payne
Carol, a lonely American tourist from Denver, on her first European holiday and struggling with the French language, finds peace within herself through her love of Paris.
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