It’s almost becoming a tradition that a Woody Allen film will somehow be involved in the Cannes Film Festival, and now it’s been announced that the director’s next movie, Midnight In Paris, will open this year’s event, which starts on May 11th.
While Allen’s films (this is his 41st) often screen during the two week festival, he doesn’t often get such a presitigious spot, especially as his movies have declined in quality in recent years. That suggest either Midnight In Paris is a return to form or more likely that the organisers liked the fact the movie was shot in France and that with Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates and Adrien Brody amongst the cast, there was the opportunity to get some famous names on the opening night red carpet.
“Midnight in Paris is a wonderful love letter to Paris”, says Festival director Thierry Frémaux. “It’s a film in which Woody Allen takes a deeper look at the issues raised in his last films: our relationship with history, art, pleasure and life. His 41st feature reveals once again his inspiration.”
The film itself is a romantic comedy about a family travelling to the French capital for business. The party includes a young engaged couple forced to confront the illusion that a life different from their own is better.