Movies: A Worthwhile Trip to ‘Paris’

In this economy, the closest I’m going to get to Paris is going to “Paris.”So I went to see the new movie starring Juliette Binoche. I used to hate her cause she stole the Academy Award away from Lauren Bacall in 1996. But all is forgiven. I just keep noticing that every time I see Binoche I fall in love with her all over again. That was true even last month, when she appeared on “The View” and kept having to be bleeped for her language. She was the first authentic person ever to appear on “The View”—or at least it felt that way.
In “Paris,” the latest from director Cédric Klapisch, Binoche plays the sister of a young man who needs a heart transplant. She winds up getting a heart transplant of another, more metaphorical variety. I like brother-sister movies, partly because there are so few of them when stacked up against the romantic variety, and partly cause I like my sister. The sibling situation here is dire and beautiful and probably made more compelling because the pretty darn cute Romain Duris plays Binoche’s brother.
This is one of those sprawling Robert Altman-like things, where many story lines run parallel until they bump against one another. I liked most of the plots, but especially the scenes with Binoche and Duris. They felt real. I believed everything they said and did, whether they were sparring or sustaining one another, telling the truth of about the passage of time or lying to kids about Santa Claus. An ambitious movie, but a worthwhile one.
And Binoche is that rare 21st-century film actress, one who can use the muscles in her face to express emotion.