Image copyright © by Marcus Trahan

Paris 36

(Faubourg 36, France/Germany/Czech Republic, 2008)

A trifle that never quite succeeded for me. A grou p of workers try to rescue a failing theater. I have no real experience and/or taste for French vaudeville and popular music of that era. I suspect that French people will love this a great deal more than I did. I have to say that the look of the film is first-rate, though, and it was filmed entirely on a vast set outside Prague! The female lead, Nora Arnezeder, is very beautiful, and her boyfriend bears an amazing resemblance to Leonardo DiCaprio. The best thing about the movie is a big musical number near the end which obviously could not have happened on the tiny stage of the Chansonia Theater, that is reminiscent of the gloriously over-the-top numbers in my favorite musical, The Boy Friend.