Richard Quine
Paris When It Sizzles

"Paris When It Sizzles" ("Together in Paris," the utterly banal Italian version of the title) is a curious 1963 comedy directed by Richard Quine, based on the screenplay by George Axelrod, which in turn is inspired by a work of French director Julien Duvivier.

The right adjective to describe it is truly "curious"; indeed, it piques much curiosity for various reasons, primarily because it's a film a bit ramshackle and playful, a whimsical story held together by thin narrative threads that doesn't have grand ambitions but ends up leaving an impression and is very entertaining. Even the title, "Paris When It Sizzles," doesn't say much (translated it would be "Paris When It Sizzles" or something similar), as it relates to an initial scene where a firecracker explodes and alludes to the non-film that develops within the film. This "non-film" is "The Girl Who Stole The Eiffel Tower," the faux-thriller mess that the screenwriter Richard Benson and his typist, Gabrielle Simpson, write in two days filled with hilarity, paradoxical situations, and some boozing. Richard Benson is a Hollywood screenwriter who spends "5 days a year to ensure that I can spend the other 360 in the way I have become accustomed," essentially writing his works in record time and spending the rest of his time squandering money on alcohol and various amusements; Gabrielle, on the other hand, is a quirky and dreamy typist who brings her canary Richelieu to work, who also somehow becomes a protagonist of the story. The two of them find themselves in the writer's hotel room in Paris to draft in three days what hasn't been done in the other 362, an impossible mission that will lead to the birth of the film within the film, as they themselves will live out the phantom plot of "The Girl Who Stole The Eiffel Tower."

Only a well-matched couple could interpret this film, and William Holden and Audrey Hepburn are just that, oh they are. Their chemistry is perfect, perhaps too perfect, and only later will it be revealed about their brief flirtation during filming, with Holden saying "she was the love of my life," for Audrey, however, the film, although "not too successful," will remain in her heart simply because she had a great deal of fun making it right after the complicated but beautiful "Charade."

One of the most entertaining elements of the film is precisely following the development of the plot that the two write, which unfolds parallel to the main story with strong ironic, often surreal and grotesque overtones; the protagonist is first an innocent girl sitting in a bar waiting for her boyfriend; ten minutes later, she becomes a very sensual vamp with long hair seeking precious information about an unlikely thief. Benson dictates to Gabrielle in the strangest ways, inside the bathtub, lying on the floor, or upside down, and the typist writes and tries to help the screenwriter with some ideas, but when he gets drunk, the "non-film" takes an absurd turn that manages to entertain the audience immensely (the scene of the final aerial duel with Hepburn as the aviation pilot is very funny). In the end, the two will complete the screenplay, but unexpected twists will mark their destinies"And that is L.O.V.E.? ... Uh, uh. It's too late. He's already 43, he will turn 43 in October. He's been married twice, a disaster each time. He's lived too many years with too much money, poorly written stuff, and too much vodka. He has nothing left to give inside. Even if he could. Which he can't."

In the end, "Paris When It Sizzles" isn't a perfect film; in fact, it is perhaps too ambitious in wanting to advance two stories within the same film, the screenplay falters a bit and is sometimes convoluted in connecting the various fragments of the plot, a little more spontaneity would have served in the finale. Overall, however, it is entertaining and anticipates some elements of future American comedy, especially that of early Allen; in many of Audrey Hepburn's acting behaviors, one can glimpse the future Diane Keaton of "Sleeper" and "Love and Death"; Hepburn highlights her comedic talent, which has its basis in naivety and self-irony, in a series of bizarre scenes with Holden that are truly hilarious, two truly talented actors for a film worth seeing, and now, as Benson would say....."Fade out and The End."

P.S.: In a small cameo in "The Girl Who Stole The Eiffel Tower," Marlene Dietrich appears.