Paris (2008) More at IMDb Pro »

"The universe is everywhere," as the title, Paris, comes up. Binoche is speaking to her children but it also creates the sense of Paris as a microcosm. One that will be explored through the lives of some of its characters. A heartbeat scan is reminiscent of an embryo scan. And if we 'zoom in too close we can't see too much.' Binoche's brother, still a young man, has a heart problem. An ex-dancer, he starts (with sister's help) to draw his life in around him. There are various other story threads. A historian who has an infatuation with a student. His brother, an architect who uses animation software to see his completed parks and buildings (in a great dream-scene, he enters into his own animation).

The characters are skilfully, meticulously and movingly drawn. It is probably the best soap opera since Magnolia. Moments of humour abound as Binoche tries to get her brother laid. There is an accident you see a few seconds before it happens and I wanted to scream at the writer, "You didn't have to do that! I liked that character!" But of course they did. Death seals life as surely as does birth. And we see all its meaning in a mother's reflected expression to a new father.