Director Jacques Audiard isn’t exactly known for romance. While his films like The Sisters Brothers, A Prophet, and Dheepan have sympathy for their characters, there’s little love in Audiard’s work. Even with a film like Rust and Bone, the romance rises from the ashes of great tragedy and pain. Which is why Audiard’s latest film, Paris, 13th District is such a pleasant surprise, a sweet and lovely tale of interconnecting romances told with beautiful black-and-white cinematography from Paul Guilhaume and a collection of charming, albeit flawed, characters.
Based on the comic short stories of cartoonist Adrian Tomine, Paris 13th District’s screenplay—by Audiard, Léa Mysius, and Céline Sciamma—combines several of Tomine’s stories, moves them to Paris, and combines them into a surprisingly warm story. We first meet Émilie Wong (Lucie Zhang), who has a room to rent, and despite looking for a female roommate, offers the room to Camille Germain (Makita Samba), a male teacher who is looking to leave his current profession. Soon after Camille moves in, the pair become sexually involved, and while Émilie starts to fall in love, Camille wants to keep things more casual, naturally causing trouble between the two.
Meanwhile, Nora Ligier (Noémie Merlant) is a 33-year-old going to college, who unknowingly goes to a party dressed like Amber Sweet (Jehnny Beth), a popular cam girl. After constant ridicule from her classmates, Nora seeks out Amber and strikes up a friendship with her. But these two relationships cross path when Nora drops out of school and starts working at a real-estate agency where Camille now works. As these four stories intersect and intertwine, these characters try to find love, sex, and most importantly, happiness, in their own ways.
While this type of story might feel out of the ordinary for Audiard, his compassion and love for these characters is clear from the very beginning. Like Audiard’s best films, Paris, 13th District relies heavily on the great performances his actors are giving, and here, the narrative feels far lighter and free-flowing than his other work. Much of that might have to do with his co-writers, particularly Sciamma, who wrote and directed Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Petite Maman—both films that take their time in exploring relationships without much of a rush. Still, with that lighter touch, Paris, 13th District remains compelling throughout its various stories and linking characters.
Each of these characters is fantastic in their own ways, although Beth’s Amber Sweet understandably gets the short end of the stick, as she mostly exists solely through Nora’s computer screen. But the standout here is Zhang, the character in which we can most directly see the effects of love. After having sex with someone, Émilie almost seems to be floating on air, and while she tries to be tough, that exterior easily breaks down when she starts to catch feelings for Camille. In many ways, Paris, 13th District is very much about how exploring who and how we love alters our personality, and nowhere is that more clear than in Zhang’s excellent performance.
Similarly, Samba is more closed off, yet we can also see the subtle changes in his personality as he tries to figure out what he wants. Merlant is also wonderful, undergoing the biggest eye-opening in terms of her love life. In her 30s, Nora’s sexual experiences so far have been questionable, and the taunting from her fellow students has only made her more uncertain about how to handle her sexuality. But much like Merlant’s performance in Portrait of a Lady on Fire, watching this transformation is a joy to behold, right down to Nora’s beautiful final moments.
Audiard, Mysius and Sciamma, along with their fantastic cast, create an enchanting and seductive story told through an intimate group of relationships. This beautiful and simple story of young love and finding one's self through love is one of the most romantic and sexiest films of 2022 so far.
Rating: B+
Paris, 13th District is now playing in theaters and is available through VOD services.