Post by Brad Nelson on Apr 29, 2021 7:54:14 GMT -8
Paris by Night is a French film from 2012. But even though it’s French, it’s not weirdo French. Here’s the synopsis at IMDB:
I found the thread of the plot a little hard to follow. And that’s because the plot consists of Commander Weiss flitting from strip-club to strip-club putting out small fires and making dubious deals. At the start of this, we learn that internal affairs is watching him. And we find out there is good reason for this.
But as for anything connecting higher up, the movie doesn’t get into that. What we have is Commander Weiss in the guise of a License God. He goes where he wants and wields the powers of his office with a heavy hand. Along for the ride (which apparently takes part all in one night shift) is a pool driver, apparently a different one being assigned to him daily or weekly.
Despite its flaws, it’s an interesting format for a movie. The main problem I found was the superficiality of it all. The Commander flits from one place to the next and you’re never given much of a rest to figure things out. Nor are you given much of a perspective on his job or Paris’s demi-monde district. As described in Wiki:
We’re certainly given a hint that all of this is set up for an elite clientele. At one point one of the club owners says that he doesn’t fear the police. He fears their elite clientele being scared off by a hint of scandal.
The movie gives (or tries to give) a bit of a surprise ending. But you’ll no doubt be as unsurprised as I was. [Spoiler: His driver was internal affairs, but the experienced movie-watcher would have assumed this from the start.] Not a bad movie overall if you’re looking for something different.
Police commander Simon Weiss, head of the division that supervises Paris's demi-monde, starts out on his nightly tour of bars, discos and strip clubs, making sure once again that the owners don't bend the rules too far. Weiss knows he's between a rock and hard place: it's obvious that criminal gangs run rampant in his special domain, and even more obvious that they're protected by higher-ups in the department.
I found the thread of the plot a little hard to follow. And that’s because the plot consists of Commander Weiss flitting from strip-club to strip-club putting out small fires and making dubious deals. At the start of this, we learn that internal affairs is watching him. And we find out there is good reason for this.
But as for anything connecting higher up, the movie doesn’t get into that. What we have is Commander Weiss in the guise of a License God. He goes where he wants and wields the powers of his office with a heavy hand. Along for the ride (which apparently takes part all in one night shift) is a pool driver, apparently a different one being assigned to him daily or weekly.
Despite its flaws, it’s an interesting format for a movie. The main problem I found was the superficiality of it all. The Commander flits from one place to the next and you’re never given much of a rest to figure things out. Nor are you given much of a perspective on his job or Paris’s demi-monde district. As described in Wiki:
Demi-monde is French for "half-world". The term derives from a play called Le Demi-Monde, by Alexandre Dumas fils, published in 1855.[1] The play dealt with the way that prostitution at that time threatened the institution of marriage. The demi-monde was the world occupied by elite men and the women who entertained them and whom they kept, the pleasure-loving and dangerous world Dumas immortalized in the 1848 novel La Dame aux Camélias and its many adaptations. Demimondaine became a synonym for a courtesan or a prostitute who moved in these circles—or for a woman of social standing with the power to thumb her nose at convention and throw herself into the hedonistic nightlife. A woman who made that choice would soon find her social status lost, as she became "déclassée". The 1958 film Gigi, based on a 1944 novella by Colette, vividly portrays the world of the demimonde near the end of its existence. Gigi's Aunt Alicia, a legendary courtesan now enjoying a wealthy retirement, trains her teenage niece in elegant manners and deportment and the value of jewels and tries to stir her interest in fashion, in order to prepare her for life in the demimonde, pleasing the gentlemen who will provide her with the means to live beautifully—or miserably.
For the men, the high life of the demimonde was isolated from the other world of wives and families and duties (if any). It embraced heavy drinking, drug use, gambling, attending the theatre and ballet and horse races, the pursuit of high fashion in every aspect of life—and, of course, sexual promiscuity. Lavish spending led to indebtedness, the promiscuity led to disease.
For the men, the high life of the demimonde was isolated from the other world of wives and families and duties (if any). It embraced heavy drinking, drug use, gambling, attending the theatre and ballet and horse races, the pursuit of high fashion in every aspect of life—and, of course, sexual promiscuity. Lavish spending led to indebtedness, the promiscuity led to disease.
We’re certainly given a hint that all of this is set up for an elite clientele. At one point one of the club owners says that he doesn’t fear the police. He fears their elite clientele being scared off by a hint of scandal.
The movie gives (or tries to give) a bit of a surprise ending. But you’ll no doubt be as unsurprised as I was. [Spoiler: His driver was internal affairs, but the experienced movie-watcher would have assumed this from the start.] Not a bad movie overall if you’re looking for something different.
