Paris with Owen

I'm still 'catching up' with my DVD collection and over the weekend it was time for some swooning over Owen Wilson in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris. IMDb says: "While on a trip to Paris with his fiancé's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight."

The film, which came out in 2011 received very good reviews and was awarded the 2012 Golden Globe for Best Screenplay. It didn't convince me.

As much as I like Owen W., his character was slightly annoying and I guess I didn't like the fantasy bit about the story of him being able to go back to the 1920s - and not even being all that surprised by it. The film has clearly all the typical Woody Allen elements with Owen playing Woody's part very well.

I did like some of the dialogue/monologues:

Hemingway and Gil Pender (aka Owen W) talk about fear of death.
Hemingway:
All men before you have done it and all men will do.
... Have you ever made love to a truly great woman?
... And when you make love to her, you'll at least for that moment lose your fear of death.
... I believe that love that is true and real creates a respite from death.
... All cowardice comes from not loving or not loving well which is the same.

Gertrude Stein:
We all fear death and question our place in the universe. The artist's job is not to succumb to despair but to find the antidote for the emptiness of existence.