Movie: Paris Blues (Martin Ritt, 1961)
I've never been much into jazz, but I've always greatly enjoyed stories about the jazz scene. Paris Blues is no exception and has all the familiar elements that makes these stories so appealing. There is of course a band of moody musicians with very specific ideas about the kind of music they want to make, leading to the formation of outsider, (culturally and musically) diverse, slightly odball communities shaped by musical compatibility. They play in bars that are just classy enough to give the audience a sense of sophistication and just crummy enough to give them a sense of danger and discovery. That also shapes the attitudes of the musicians themselves, who like to present themselves as artistically accomplished, fiercely independent and just a little bummier than they truly are. That such a role would fit Paul Newman like a glove is to be expected. I found it more surprising that Sidney Poitier is so comfortable playing a carefree cool musician utterly uninterested in leaving Paris to go back to America and fight for black liberation. It's quite a joy to see them play respectively Ram Bowen and Eddie Cook. The film is beautifully lighthearted and for the most part asks nothing more of them than to convey their pleasuure in playing jazz and courting Lilian (Joanne Woodward) and Connie (Diahann Carroll), two friends on holiday in Paris.
I've never been much into Paris either. I've always found it a city that insists a bit too much on its own greatness, being way too self-conscious about its famous sites. From Montmartre and Sacré-Coeur to the Arc de Triomphe and from the Louvre to the smallest street, everything feels designed to maximally overwhelm you by its beauty and grandeur. Admittedly, it often succeeds! It would be ridiculous to call Paris ugly or unpleasant, but it does feel a bit like the city and its mythology are lording over the people in it. Paris Blues, partly because it is filmed in black and white, manages to counterbalance this mythology a little bit. It's filled with scenes of the two couples walking across the city, falling in love along the Seine. They see many of the famous locations of the city, but are never dwarfed by them. There is one scene in which Connie and Eddie are standing in front of the Notre-Dame and you only truly notice the cathedral when one of them points it out. I found the way in which the city blends in with the character here highly appealing. I have not been to Paris in a long time and wasn't rushing to. This film made me want to go again. It helps that the carefree natural charm of all four main actors is reflected in the atmsophere at the jazz club where they are playing and that Ritt is clearly inspired by the emergence of the French New Wave without really committing to it, which gives the film an even more nonchalant tone, with Louis Armstrong's call-and-response scene as a great highlight.
I first heard about Paris Blues when reading about the controversial decision by the producers to block the depiction of interracial relationships. The film was originally conceived with the idea to have Newman and Carroll and Poitier and Woodward as the two couples and the actors were not happy with the decision to change that. It would have probably been more dramatically interesting if the producers were more courageous. But both Woodward and Newman and Poitier and Carroll were a real-life couple during filming and their easygoing chemistry really contributes to the pleasurable vibe of the film. Besides, while interracial romances may have been (and still are) rare in American film, that's even more true for interracial friendships. Especially interracial friendships between men and women in which they give each other romantic advice, without being affected by racial stereotypes.
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