Let’s be frank: we always wait with some trepidation for Canadian fiction series produced in the French-speaking world outside Quebec… Even if we want to find fine qualities in these creations conceived in a minority context. But there is nothing to fear with the new comedy scripted and directed by Dominic Desjardins (The couch world, The sacred), an original, funny and intelligent proposition. Certainly, Paris, Paris is not free from small flaws, but it’s so entertaining that we forget them, a bit.
We follow the upside-down fate of Philippe (Benoit Mauffette, perfect), a Quebecer in his forties, who followed his wife to Paris, Ontario, a city with little Francophile, where he taught French at the local elementary school until day when his post is abolished. Plunged into a deep existential crisis, this unhappy man in love, who dreamed of being a professor of French literature, discovers by accident in his basement a passage to Paris, France, which ends up on the stage of a theater. He will find in this parallel universe a good dose of comfort in the face of his disappointments and his professional and personal insecurities, until the day when the two worlds meet, against his will.
In addition to this fantastic element, which gives rise to wacky situations that are sometimes predictable but delicious, Paris, Paris hits the mark when it uses the sad fate reserved for francophones in minority communities as a comic spring. This creates memorable scenes, which sometimes make you feel more like crying than laughing …
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