Eine Affäre in Paris (2003)

Eine Affäre in Paris: Directed by James Ivory. With Kate Hudson, Jean-Marie Lhomme, Naomi Watts, Esmée Buchet-Deàk. French vs. American social customs and behaviors are observed in a story about an American visiting her Frenchman-wed sister in Paris.

“After viewing the unfortunate u0026quot;Golden Bowlu0026quot; (also by James Ivory) the day before, an exposure to u0026quot;Le Divorceu0026quot; was certainly a refreshing sip of champagne. This may be the first James Ivory movie Iu0026#39;ve seen where I forgot to look at the sets (unlike Ivoryu0026#39;s other French venture, u0026quot;Jefferson in Parisu0026quot;). This is mostly due to the depth of certain actors and the fact that this time Ivory decides to close in on them rather than frame them. When the book came out, as an American living in Paris for 30 years, I avoided reading another set of American observations on everything French that foreign residents here hate, and I canu0026#39;t say that the movie avoids the pitfalls of throwing around generalities. Yet this is kept to an astonishing minimum, perhaps because few of the main characters really consider themselves typical representatives of their native country. Instead of a plethora of reflections coming out of their mouths, u0026quot;the French are like this, the Americans are like that,u0026quot; the viewer can actually draw his own conclusions about which country has the u0026quot;nicestu0026quot; people and the place of formality when it comes to private matters. After all, would the story have been that much different if it had dealt with class differences in New York City? The characters who do tend to generalize are perhaps the least involved in what is going on. They form the real u0026quot;décoru0026quot; of the film, rather than the wallpaper and polished furniture, although these elements certainly havenu0026#39;t been omitted.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI find it strange that the two most interesting actors are supposed to belong to the subplot, Kate Hudson and Thierry Lu0026#39;Hermitte. The latter is currently being wasted in his late middle age in French films, and, like Louis Jourdan in u0026quot;Gigi,u0026quot; manages to bring a little subtle something extra to the most stereotyped part in the film. Iu0026#39;d like to see him extend what he has done here, if any producer or director can be bothered.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film had such a short run in France that I missed seeing it in a movie theater, and it was dismissed by most French critics on its release like the way that some of the American characters are dismissed by their French counterparts in the film itself. It would be a shame to overlook this light but not lightweight effort, for it has a surprisingly natural charm and raises interesting questions about how much the culture that forms our conditioning influences our very humanity.”