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Paris, 13th District 18 rating

Jacques Audiard ventures into new territory with a vibrant take on love and Paris, as four characters cross amorous paths in the modern city.

Comedy 2021 105 mins

Director: Jacques Audiard

Overview

Based on three stories by graphic novelist Adrian Tomine, Paris, 13th District sees French maestro Jacques Audiard stepping away from his previous crime genre tendencies to offer a panorama of love, desire and everyday survival in a racially, culturally, sexually diverse contemporary city. Lucie Zhang plays Emilie, a free spirit working in telesales and trying to handle the expectations of her Taiwanese family, and who gets involved with her lodger Camille (Makita Samba), a literary postgraduate. Alongside these mesmerising newcomers, Noémie Merlant (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) plays law student Nora, whose life implodes when she is mistaken for cam girl ‘Amber’ (Savages singer Jehnny Beth). As their lives intersect, a bustling but unromantic Parisian district is the backdrop for a tough, tender, often euphoric city symphony.

Script collaborators are writer-directors Céline Sciamma (Petite Maman) and Léa Mysius (Ava), with Paul Guilhaume’s crackling black-and-white photography bringing the Nouvelle Vague’s urban dreams electrically into the 21st century.