Paris
IFC Films | Release Date: September 18, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Klapisch's masterstroke was to place at the center of a movie a man, forced by circumstances, to stop and simply observe. Read full review
90
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Paris is a funny, sad, romantic and deeply felt love letter to a great city. If you can't book a trip now, it's the next best thing. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Every character has life and depth. It's unusual for an episodic film to involve us so well in individual lives; as the narrative circles through their stories, we're genuinely curious about what will happen next. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
This is a kaleidoscopic valentine to a great city from a director who knows and loves his subject. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
Has a mature tapestry of characters, a welcome sense of humor and, most crucially, a lovely Juliette Binoche. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The new film Paris by writer-director Cédric Klapisch was originally supposed to carry the subtitle "An Ephemeral Portrait of an Eternal City." That kind of sums it up. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Not much happens during the course of the movie but, as with all good dramas, the protagonists are richly drawn and the events of their lives become of interest. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
The actors, remarkable and seasoned, take care of their end of things, stylishly and (when and where it can be arranged) truthfully. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
It pulls together diverse residents of the city, from produce vendors to academics, and trains a loving eye on their unique environments and the urban landscapes they all share. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen Holden
There are enough intersecting characters from different classes and backgrounds in Paris to evoke the city as a complex, healthy organism, whose parts are all connected. If it is too lighthearted to show the actual political and economic machinery behind it, its celebration of how well that machinery works produces a pleasant afterglow. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesSheri Linden
If the idea of interconnectedness feels secondhand, what's fresh and affecting is the way Binoche's and Duris' characters navigate life and death. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
As a whole, though, Paris pulses with a contemporary version of the energy that animated Balzac's novels, or Colette's accounts of the life she observed from the window of her apartment in the Palais Royal. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Paris flits from story to story and character to character without doing justice to any of them. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
There are too many secondhand characters roving through Paris. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
To a one, they're terrific. But in this overpacked ensemble cast, it's Binoche you want to see more of. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The best armchair holiday going - the cast is lovely to behold and the plot dips in and out of the arrondissements with panache. You almost don’t mind that none of it adds up to terribly much. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterGregory Valens
Paris is a bittersweet film containing rare moments of comedy. Read full review
50
Village VoiceNick Pinkerton
At a 124-minute runtime, though, the writer-director has stretched a wide canvas, and only sporadically found anything worth filling it with. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle Smith
The tales mostly drift along and wrap up unresolved. If this is an accurate slice of Paris life, I'll take the relative excitement of Topeka. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Soggy stuff from French director Cedric Klapisch (When the Cat’s Away), set in the title city and collecting the routine travails of various urbanites. Read full review
40
Time OutDavid Fear
This could have been a true urban mosaic. Instead, we simply get a vision of Paris as the city of lite. Read full review
More From This Movie

68 Critic Reviews

5.5 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL