Alice is looking for love. With her last romance dashed all-too-quickly by the untimely arrival of her sister, her long-standing singledom is becoming a rather pressing concern. But, it would seem that there is a team ready to recruit the perfect bachelor on her behalf.
By Keeva Stratton
Her father attempts to hand over his Chemist to Alice, while stealing her business cards and handing them out to any available gentlemen he meets—even the rather sickly ones. Her sister and her now brother-in-law (Alice’s once-upon-a-time fleeting flame) are also on the hunt, roping in their single friends for a little Cupid’s play themselves.
But they needn’t worry, because not only is Alice content with her solo life, she also has a special confidant that consoles her every night—in the form of Woody Allen (by way of her poster of him, of course).
So much of this film speaks of the oddly cathartic powers of Woody Allen. For those who love him, it will be immediately relatable. For those who don’t, it may seem a little trite. But Paris Manhattan is certainly uniquely funny and provides a very fresh take on the modern rom-com.
Rescu. spoke with first-time director Sophie Lellouche on how she managed to gain Woody Allen’s stamp of approval for her first film.
RESCU: How did you contact Woody Allen?
Sophie Lellouche: I went to New York and knew where Woody played his clarinet regularly. After he had finished his show, I waited and I talked to him. I told him that I had written a film about a girl who was in love with him and he asked me to send him a copy of my script. It was so nice, he is really a lovely person. A few months later I was informed that not only did he like the script, but he would also be happy to appear in the film.
RESCU: What was his response?
Sophie Lellouche: He never asked me who the actors were or who the producer was. It was incredible because it was my first movie and he was so lovely. He simply read it and said ‘ok’. If he had said that he couldn’t have done it, I would not have made the movie, so it was really important.
RESCU: How did that change your confidence as a first-time filmmaker?
Sophie Lellouche: It was huge. Whenever I had approached people to help fund the film, if they weren’t interested or told me that they didn’t think it was good enough I knew that Woody Allen had liked it, and that gave me a lot of confidence.
RESCU: How did you build the Woody Allen material into the script?
Sophie Lellouche: I needed to find the quotes that I needed for my script. So I would for example say, Alice needs to talk about courage, so I would have to go back and see where Woody had talked about courage. So I would go back and watch the films over and over to find the quotes.
RESCU: Where does the character of Alice come from?
Sophie Lellouche: Alice is a mixture between myself and the girl I wanted to be. It was nice to write because I could make Alice exactly what I wanted, and it was a comedy so I had a lot of fun.
RESCU: What makes her special?
Sophie Lellouche: I love in this character that she does not collapse. She is very optimistic and when things are bad she stays confident. I wanted to make a good character like that who was very strong and very happy. Even though she doesn’t have it easy in love, she accepts that she is a lucky person and I loved that.
RESCU: What is your favourite Woody Allen film?
Sophie Lellouche: A lot. It is difficult to say one in particular, because there are ten that are really important to me. There are so many that I love, but I think the last one that I really, really love is Midnight in Paris.
Directed by: Sophie Lellouche
Starring: Alice Taglioni, Patrick Bruel, Marine Delterme
Rating: M
Runtime: 77 mins
Release Date: 13 December 2012
Reviewer rating: 3/5
