Alice Winocour follows up her hugely underrated gem ‘Proxima’ with yet another powerful and emotionally-charged drama, featuring a tour-de-force leading performance. Winocour has directed and written (along with collaborators Jean-Stéphane Bron and Marcia Romano) a deeply moving study into trauma and its lasting effects, exploring the challenges and stresses of trying to move on with one’s life, and how an immediate, shocking event can reroute our lives in an instant.
Mia (Virginie Efira) has been with her partner for many years and is settled in her professional life working as a translator for a radio station. After her partner (a doctor at the local hospital) is called away from their dinner date, Mia decides to head home. A rainstorm forces her to take shelter at a local Parisian bistro, and whilst there a terrorist attack takes place. She survives the attack, but the trauma of the mass killings affects her memory of that night. In the weeks that follow, she traces her steps in an attempt to piece together the puzzle of that fateful event, whilst her own story takes her on a surprising journey of discovery.
‘Paris Memories’, or ‘Revoir Paris’ as its known worldwide, is a detailed and heartfelt examination of how we react to life-changing events, the effects these have on us, and how being faced with death forces us to reprioritise our choices in life. The film is lead superbly by the always sensational Virginie Efira as Mia. Alice Winocour always manages to find powerful leading turns from her leading women. Eva Green in Proxima’ is one of the most underrated performances of the last decade, and now Efira leads yet another one of Winocour’s projects with a quiet but hugely moving performance of grief and hope.
A film with a subject matter like this could have very easily relied on the terrorist attack itself to define the narrative, but ‘Paris Memories’ shows remarkably little in that respect, to its credit. This is a story about the effects of such an unthinkable crime, and with Efira on such mesmerising form, it’s one of the most involving and moving studies I’ve ever seen about trauma and grief. When Efira’s character Mia is challenged in a survivor’s group for doing something cowardly, it gives the film a puzzle that we as an audience have to solve along with Mia, and the journey that takes her on is a fascinating one that drip-feeds us through an intelligent and realistic story.
The ensemble is very good too. Benoît Magimel is charming as Thomas, a fellow survivor of the night who has been badly injured. His friendship with Mia through difficult circumstances is well explored here, giving both characters a lot of issues to try and overcome. Making sense of such a heinous act is impossible, yet they need to process this to move on from the trauma and not let it take over their lives. The story of Mia and her partner is mostly played perfectly too. ‘Paris Memories’ isn’t shy to detail the struggles that a couple could go through after one is affected in such a life-changing way. The film manages to convey the helplessness of this lose-lose situation with a maturity and believability that’s admirable. However, one slight element to their story towards the end felt tagged on, and I feel wasn’t needed.
Despite its bleak and emotionally-demanding subject matter. ‘Paris Memories’ is ultimately a film about hope. As Mia pieces together her memories, we are given a few wonderful stories of human endeavour and strength, and how sometimes a complete stranger can have a profound and meaningful impact on one’s life. With a tremendous leading turn from Virginie Efira and Alice Winocour’s portrayal of a Paris that is stark and realistic, but also retains its undeniable magic, ‘Paris Memories’ is a must-see drama that demands your time and attention.
Cast: Virginie Efira, Benoît Magimel, Grégoire Colin, Maya Sansa, Amadou Mbow, Nastya Golubeva Carax, Anne-Lise Heimburger, Sofia Lesaffre, Clarisse Makundul Director: Alice Winocour Writer: Alice Winocour, Jean-Stéphane Bron, Marcia Romano Certificate: 15 Duration: 105 mins Released by: Picturehouse Release date: 4th August 2023
