the last segment of Paris Je T'aime

[fflo]

I don't know how much sense it makes to stick this here to remind me to look at it (and to offer it to you to check out), but I was just thinking about Alexander Payne's closing segment of Paris Je T'aime. Was posting elsewhere about the stock mocking of fat American tourist characters in an earlier segment of the (collection-of-shorts) film, and how shitty that felt to see, though I didn't mention how it pops into my mind when I imagine someday getting to France/Europe/wherever-else, and then I remembered how touching it was to have the film end with this piece, with (what strikes me as) a human fondness for the central character it is sorta making fun of, but really isn't. Really is actually loving.

Well maybe I shouldn't say that, since I haven't seen it since it was at the cinema (the not-fat-friendly State Theater, specifically), and I mighta romanticized it, but here it is:

Comments

[disclaimerwill.livejournal.com]

Well, I'd say the last laugh is on the director of whichever segment it was that contained the fat-mocking nonsense, because the only two segments I ever hear anyone discussing from Paris Je T'aime are this one and the Coens' excuse for their continuing gleeful commitment to punishing Steve Buscemi.

Yeah, I don't get a whiff of mean-spiritedness from this segment at all. There's some gentle fun-poking, but only because I don't think you can explore anyone's humanity without thinking at one point or another, "There are some pretty silly aspects to this person."