There’s a kind of studied everyday-ness to the film’s choices its characters are middle-class types, not children of the privileged upper class weaned on trust funds and silver spoons, and the strain of economic need (not necessarily destitution, but not comfortable wealth, either) provides a distinctly modern backdrop to its characters’ struggles. This mismatch of education and vocation is a particular fascination of “Paris, 13th District” Camille, too, studies for a philosophy doctorate yet finds himself working at a real estate agency to pay the rent. Their scale is vertiginous and, in effect, anonymizing Audiard fixates on Émilie’s ennui, the cyclicality of her desk job, for which she is grossly over-qualified (Camille notes this when she reveals that she studied at Sciences Po, one of Paris’ more prestigious university programs). In black and white, Audiard trains his camera on the eponymous Brutalist towers, les Olympiades, constructed during the ’70s and named for Olympic host countries. Though it’s set in the world capital of romance, the visual language of “Paris, 13th District” is anything but romantic its aesthetic coldness reflects a kind of urban malaise.
READ MORE: Summer 2021 Preview: Over 50 Movies To And an ending reminiscent of Shakespearean comedy, in which all four leads must resolve their problems with monogamous coupledom, suggests a certain marriage plot traditionalism for a film that stylizes itself as modern. Yet certain plot points are better integrated than others-a subplot about Émilie’s dying grandmother never seems fully justified.
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Full of fresh faces and unique stories, “Paris, 13th District” makes a case for genuine connections in a culture bent on transposing them into commodified products. The film is not shy about sexuality, nor about drugs its characters party hard and hook up, but pivotally can’t seem to connect or find honest, uncomplicated relationships. In particular, Sciamma’s contribution is palpable in the film’s vibrant portrayal of young people and their romances. Though the film feels at times like a sociological manifesto on modern love penned by an older generation, its writing team, which includes Audiard, Léa Mysius, and “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” writer Céline Sciamma, manages to capture both the real pitfalls and bouts of joy inherent to twentysomethings’ relationships. Shot in black and white and based on comic book short stories by Adam Tomine, “Paris, 13th District” feels like Audiard’s attempt to inaugurate a Millennial New Wave, “ Jules and Jim,” but with a synth-pop soundtrack courtesy of Rone. READ MORE: Cannes Film Festival 2021 Preview: 25 Films To Watch
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The ostracism and bullying by her classmates are almost too much to bear until Nora finds an unlikely supporter in the real Amber Sweet herself, whom she befriends over a series of paid video chats. Nora has her own independent storyline, too: Awkward and a bit insecure, she wears a blond wig to a student party only to be mistaken for a well-known cam girl named Amber Sweet ( Jehnny Beth). Soon enough, Camille starts hooking up with Nora ( Noémie Merlant, fresh from a breakout role in 2019’s “ Portrait of a Lady on Fire”), a 33-year-old law student who moves to Paris from Bordeaux to complete her degree. One thing leads to another, and Émilie and Camille start hooking up, and in true Harry and Sally form, sex complicates the apartment dynamic irrevocably. When Émilie ( Lucie Zhang), a telemarketer as bored with her job as she is with her life, puts an ad out for a roommate to move into her grandmother’s spacious apartment, she doesn’t expect Camille ( Makita Samba), a witty, hardworking English teacher who is decidedly not a woman. Friendship, love, and all the strange gradations in between coalesce at the center of J acques Audiard’s quartet romance, “ Paris, 13th District” (“ Les Olympiades”), which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
Modern love is no joke, as films and shows like “ Frances Ha” and “ Girls” know, and neither is modern friendship, or any part of early adulthood these days.
Few films have accurately captured the definitive Millennial experience-lovelorn, cash-strapped, self-absorbed, and tech-addicted-though a few have tried, and some even succeeded.
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