Midnight In Paris (2011)

A frustrated Hollywood screenwriter (Owen Wilson), in the process of writing his first novel, and his uptight fiancee (Rachel McAdams) accompany her parents (Kurt Fuller, Mimi Kennedy) on a business trip to Paris. Once there, not only does he fall under the spell of Paris but enters a portal to Paris in the 1920s where he encounters Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Picasso, Gertrude Stein, Luis Bunuel, Salvador Dali among others. This heady Woody Allen concoction is cinematic champagne that stands with the best of his work like PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO and HANNAH AND HIS SISTERS. His screenplay is assured an Oscar nomination. Allen (who does not appear in the film) performs several feats of magic, one of which is actually making the normally grating Owen Wilson charming. Wilson wears the Allen persona as if tailor made and his wide eyed American in Paris is probably his best performance to date. Without getting heavy handed, Allen makes some insightful observations about nostalgia, how no matter what era one lives in, one always looks at the past through rose colored glasses. Wilson longs for Paris in the 1920s yet when he gets there, Picasso's current mistress (Marion Cotillard) longs for the 1890s Belle Epoque period, her "Golden Age". Cinematographer Darius Khondji is responsible for the loving Parisian images. The large cast includes Kathy Bates as Gertrude Stein, Adrien Brody as Salvador Dali, Michael Sheen, Alison Pill (MILK) as Zelda Fitzgerald and Carla Bruni, the First Lady of France, as a helpful museum guide. Highly recommended.