Mark Reviews Movies: PARIS, 13TH DISTRICT

Paris, 13th District, IFC Films

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Review by Mark Dujsik | April 14, 2022

When it's focused, co-writer/director Jacques Audiard's Paris, 13th District finds some truth in the lives of three mostly unsure Parisians. All of them have some kind of goal, even if the specifics aren't as fleshed out as any of them probably imagined them being at this point in life. They are all in their 30s, have worked odd or steady jobs, are still trying to figure out an actual career, and find the balance of paying bills and working toward that aspirational goal a constant struggle. In terms of romance, there's little, if anything, that's stable or steady, but in terms of sex, that's mostly a regular thing.

Such is the basic layout of this story, which watches each of these characters—together at times and separated at others—as they fall into and meander through relationships (of both the sexual and friendly varieties), nights out, school, and assorted jobs. Their at-the-moment lives and temporary goals interconnect, and if there's a question to be answered, it's whether or not any of these characters has a more permanent place among with the others, in whatever long-term goal each of them possesses.

In the bigger picture of theme, all of this makes sense. As these segments of the characters' lives and relationships unfold, though, that bigger picture becomes more difficult to see. The specific moments here do have a level of focus about these characters, their connections, and their difficulty in making those, but that focus simply doesn't carry through as Audiard, along with co-screenwriters Léa Mysius and Céline Sciamma, take us from one episode to the next. The little moments for and between these characters feel right. The larger connections that tie them, as well as some other matters, together aren't nearly as convincing.

Some of that, perhaps, comes from the filmmakers' source material: a series of four short stories by Adrian Tomine. In a way, there are at least as many central threads among the broader narrative, and once the initial story is finished, the screenwriters' attempts to weave in those other tales and characters do feel a bit forced.

That first story revolves around Émilie Wong (Lucie Zhang), the adult child of Chinese immigrants, and her attempt to find a roommate. Much to her surprise, a man answers the ad, although she assumed it was a woman doing so, on account of the name. He's Camille Germain (Makita Samba), a high school teacher who wants to complete a doctorate degree, and this apartment, located among Les Olympiades complex in the eponymous district of the capital city, would be perfect.

During the rather informal interview, the two talk about their lives, and at the end of the conversation, they have sex. That arrangement becomes a regular thing after Camille moves in with Émilie—until he meets the teacher (played by Oceane Cairaty) who's going to replace him at the high school and starts sleeping with her.

The third major character is Nora Ligier (Noémie Merlant), who has recently moved to Paris—into the same complex of apartment buildings—in order to pursue a law degree. Her connection to Camille and, through him, Émilie is thin to the point of relative non-existence at first, since they all live in the same collection of buildings and, at one point, Nora passes Camille briefly outside the apartment complex. She ends up working and having a romantic—as in, Camille actually sees something more than sex in their connection—relationship with him, but the strange thing is how little that means to Nora in terms of who she is, what she wants, and how she's actually introduced in this story.

The key to her part in this tale is a case of mistaken identity, as some classmates mistake her for an online porn star named Amber Sweet (Jehnny Beth) when Nora wears a blonde wig to a party. Nora ends up being bullied and harassed out of school, and as she takes a job working for the real estate firm that Camille is managing for a friend, she also reaches out to Amber, making an online connection that grows into something more honest than her relationship with Camille.

Each of these segments—the start and end of Émilie and Camille's arrangement, the case of mistaken identity and the unexpected bond Nora makes, the tenuous friendship Camille and Émilie maintain, the affair between Nora and Camille—reveals something deeper about these characters and personal connections (Nora is hiding a painful secret that makes a relationship difficult, and Émilie, with a dying grandmother and critical relatives, and Camille, with a dead mother and a difficulty connecting with his family, have familial issues that more or less do the same for each of them). They work in isolation, but despite Audiard's visual (The whole movie, save for one moment of online color, was shot in black-and-white) and narrative/editorial (Even when the characters aren't together, intersections abound here, either through passing glimpses of other characters or intercutting) choices, each of the sections does feel isolated from the others in one way or another.

This, then, is a movie filled with little, pointed truths about these specific characters and the modern-day world in which they're living. Because its wider connections aren't as thematically or narratively convincing, though, Paris, 13th District misses out on a sense of bigger truth.

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