Paris, 13th District
Stories of young love in Paris have long been two a sou in French cinema. But the genre is always up for reinvention, and Jacques Audiard rises to the occasion triumphantly in "Paris, 13th District" – exuberantly reinventing his own cinema in the process. The setting is the 13th arrondissement in south-east Paris as the film follows the interconnected travails and amours of three characters – with a fourth stepping unexpectedly into the mix.
A key theme is the problem of alienation in a digital age when website hook-ups may be easy to find but love is trickier. The film depicts the dissatisfactions that today’s amorous economy entails, but in a non-judgmental way that emerges from the characters’ personalities and negotiations with life.
Jonathan Romney, Screen International
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Jacques Audiard (snd 1952)
Valik/Selected: Regarde les hommes tomber (See How They Fall, 1994), De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté (Löök, mille mu süda vahele jättis, PÖFF 2005), Un prophète (Prohvet, PÖFF 2009), Les frères Sisters (Sistersi vennad, PÖFF 2018), Les Olympiades, Paris 13e (Paris, 13th District, 2021)