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"Our spring was wonderful, but summer is over now and we missed out on autumn. And now all of a sudden, it's cold, so cold that everything is freezing over. Our love fell asleep, and the snow took it by surprise. But if you fall asleep in the snow, you don't feel death coming." - Francine

 

It seems to be the current trend lately to make movies with snippets of a common theme, much alike to those six-degrees-separation kind of films. The plot can be quite pointless, but their main focus is the human interactions and the impact the dialogues have on the audience. One false move, the film can turn out to be quite disastrous.

Scenes of a Sexual Nature
This is such a film.

There are about seven couples in this movie, all of them hanging out leisurely on Hampstead Heath in North London. And the one thing that the couples have in common is the topic of sex/love/relationship. Sure, the movie has its fair share of mystery: not revealing the true relationship between the characters until much later. It can get quite interesting at some point, but overall, it is pretty bland.

The are only two couples's stories that I like. One is of Iris (starring Eileen Atkins) and Eddie (starring Benjamin Witrow), an old couple who visit the same park bench on their individually selected day for the last 50 years until one of them screwed up the day and bumped into each other. They struck up a casual conversation and discovered not long later that they were very much in love when they were teenagers, which were the reasons why they have been visiting the park bench for the last 50 years.

Another one is of Peter Brian Maxwell (starring Adrian Lester) and Sara Louise Williams (starring Catherine Tate), a supposedly divorced couple, who share a seven-year-old daughter Eve (starring Elle Mackenzie). What I like about this couple is the caring relationship they remain in even after a divorce. They still joke the way they would as if they were still together. And they have made a point that they still love each other, but they are just two very different people to be together. As if a marriage together would destroy what is good in their relationship. And it is quite a rare thing because normally when couples break up or divorce, that is the end of everything. The friendship they used to have is more than ruined and over, and it is just a pain to be around each other. This is not so for Peter and Sara, and that is what I like about them.

 

Paris, Je T'aime
And this is a film that works.

There are 18 arrondissements - meaning 18 short films - in this movie. There is an interesting casting of Natalie Portman, Elijah Wood, Emily Mortimer, and Juliette Binoche, and directors, such as Wes Craven, the Coen Brothers, Alfonso Cuaron and Gus Van Sant.

One thing I like about short films is that they are precise and straight to the point. No beating around the bush and just going straight for the core, only because there is not much time to procrastinate about. So, it is a good thing if the execution is good. And of course, bad if it is not good.

There are a few arrondissements that I like: Loin du 16e (XVIe arrondissement) by Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas, Bastille (XIIe arrondissement) by Isabel Coixet, Place des fêtes (XIXe arrondissement) by Oliver Schmitz, and Quartier de la Madeleine (VIIIe arrondissement) by Vincenzo Natali. The last one is probably the most creepily romantic short film I have ever seen. Heh.

But the two of my favourites are Tour Eiffel (VIIe arrondissement) by Sylvain Chomet and Faubourg Saint-Denis (Xe arrondissement) by Tom Tykwer. The former is of a mime artists couple (starring Paul Putner and Yolande Moreau), and it is the more adorable and hilarious one. The latter is quite a heartwarming and sad one, about a young blind man, Thomas (starring Melchior Beslon) and a theatre actress, Francine (starring Natalie Portman). When he receives a phone call from her saying she is going to break up with him, he relives their relationship from the moment they met. I specifically like this one because the montage is great and how can you ever go wrong with someone like Natalie Portman in the film?

 

Credits: Wikipedia, IMDB, QuickFlix.