Midnight in Paris is a 2011 fantasy comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen. It is set in Paris and follows Gil Pender (Owen Wilson), a screenwriter and someone trying to become a novelist. He must face problems in his relationship with his materialistic fiancée (Rachel McAdams) and their different goals. These differences become more extreme as he travels back in time to the 1920s each night at midnight.

The film was produced by Mediapro, a Spanish company, and Gravier Productions, which is based in the United States. It stars Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Carla Bruni, Tom Hiddleston, Corey Stoll, Alison Pill, Kurt Fuller, Mimi Kennedy, Lea Seydoux, Marion Cotillard, and Michael Sheen. It premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and was released in the United States on May 20, 2011. The film received praise from critics. In 2012, it won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay. It was also nominated for three other Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Art Direction.

Plot

In 2010, Gil Pender, a screenwriter who is unhappy with his work, travels to Paris with his fiancée, Inez, and her wealthy parents. Gil is trying to finish his first novel about a man who works in a shop that sells old items. He becomes interested in Paris’s artistic history, especially the Lost Generation of the 1920s, and wants to move there. Inez does not believe this is a good idea. By chance, they meet Inez’s old friend, Paul, and his wife, Carol. Paul talks confidently but incorrectly about French history, which annoys Gil but impresses Inez.

After drinking wine, Gil decides to walk back to the hotel alone, while Inez goes with Paul and Carol by taxi. At midnight, a car from the 1920s stops beside Gil and takes him to a party for Jean Cocteau, where other artists from the 1920s are present. Zelda Fitzgerald, who is bored, encourages her husband, Scott, and Gil to leave with her. They go to a café and meet Ernest Hemingway and Juan Belmonte. After Zelda and Scott leave, Gil and Hemingway talk about writing. Hemingway agrees to show Gil’s novel to Gertrude Stein. When Gil leaves to get his manuscript, he returns to 2010 but finds a laundromat where the café once was.

The next night, Gil tries to repeat the experience, this time bringing Inez. However, Inez returns to the hotel before midnight. When Gil travels back to the 1920s, he goes with Hemingway to visit Gertrude Stein, who is reviewing Pablo Picasso’s new painting of his lover, Adriana. Gil becomes interested in Adriana, a costume designer who had relationships with Amedeo Modigliani and Georges Braque. Adriana praises Gil’s novel after hearing its first line and shares that she has always wished for the past.

Inez becomes tired of Paris and Gil’s disappearances, while her father grows suspicious and hires a detective to follow Gil.

Gil continues to time-travel the following nights. Adriana leaves Picasso and spends more time with Gil, who feels conflicted about his feelings for her. Gil tells Salvador Dalí, Man Ray, and Luis Buñuel about his situation. As surrealists, they do not question his claim of coming from the future. Gil later suggests the idea for The Exterminating Angel to Buñuel.

Back in 2010, Gil meets Gabrielle, an antique dealer who also admires the Lost Generation. Later, he finds Adriana’s diary at a book stall, which reveals that Adriana was in love with Gil and dreamed of being given earrings before making love to him. Gil plans to use Inez’s earrings to seduce Adriana but is stopped when Inez returns to the hotel early. Instead, he buys new earrings and gives them to Adriana after returning to the past.

Later, a horse-drawn carriage takes them to the Belle Époque, a time Adriana considers Paris’s Golden Age. They visit the Moulin Rouge and meet Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gauguin, and Edgar Degas, who all say Paris’s best era was the Renaissance. Adriana is offered a job designing ballet costumes and proposes to Gil that they stay. However, Gil sees the unhappiness of Adriana and other artists and realizes that chasing the past is not helpful because the present is always “a little unsatisfying.” Adriana decides to stay, and they part ways. Meanwhile, the detective following Gil takes a wrong turn and is chased by guards of Louis XVI just before a revolution begins.

Gil rewrites the first two chapters of his novel and gives the draft to Stein, who praises his work. However, Hemingway says he does not believe the protagonist (based on Gil) realizes that his fiancée (based on Inez) is having an affair with a character based on Paul. Gil returns to 2010 and confronts Inez, who admits to sleeping with Paul but calls it a meaningless fling. Gil breaks up with Inez and decides to stay in Paris.

While walking by the Seine at midnight, no carriage appears, but Gil meets Gabrielle. As it begins to rain, he offers to walk her home and learns they both enjoy Paris in the rain.

Cast

Owen is a very talented actor. His voice sounds natural, as if he is not acting but speaking like a real person in a situation. This makes him very appealing. He has a great sense of humor and a strong ability to perform comedy in a way that is different from others, but still excellent. Owen plays a character who is like a typical hero from old war movies, with a friendly and humorous personality. This mix of traits is rare, and many people think he is very good at his job.

This is the second time that McAdams and Wilson have acted together as a couple. They previously worked together in the 2005 movie Wedding Crashers. McAdams explains that her role in Midnight in Paris is more argumentative than her role in Wedding Crashers. Allen praised McAdams and her co-star, Marion Cotillard, for their performances. Cotillard plays Adriana, a charming character who is Wilson’s other love interest in the film.

Carla Bruni, a singer and the former wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy, was asked by Allen to act in the movie as a museum guide. Some false reports claimed that Allen re-filmed Bruni’s scenes with Léa Seydoux, but Seydoux denied these claims, explaining she had a completely different role in the film. Allen also denied reports that a scene with Bruni required over 30 takes. He said, "I am appalled. These stories are made up and have no truth." Allen described Bruni as "very professional" and confirmed that all of her scenes will be included in the final film.

Production

Woody Allen used a different method when writing the screenplay for Midnight in Paris. He created the story around the movie title first, then built the plot around it. The parts of the film where characters travel through time are inspired by descriptions of 1920s Paris in Ernest Hemingway’s 1964 memoir A Moveable Feast. In the film, characters meet real people from that time, such as Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. The phrase “a moveable feast” appears twice, and a copy of the book is shown in one scene.

Allen first wrote the character Gil as an East Coast intellectual. However, after discussing the role with casting director Juliet Taylor and considering Owen Wilson for the part, Allen changed his mind. He worried Wilson might not seem like an East Coast person, so he decided to make Gil a Californian instead. This change added depth to the character. Allen sent the revised script to Wilson, who agreed to play the role. Allen called Wilson “a natural actor.” The story shares some parts with a British sitcom from the 1990s called Goodnight Sweetheart.

Principal photography for the film began in Paris in July 2010. Allen wanted the film to have a warm, inviting look. He explained that he preferred using bright red and warm colors in the film’s visuals because they make people look nice, like in a restaurant with red wallpaper and soft lights. To achieve this, Allen and his cinematographer, Darius Khondji, used warm colors, filmed in less bright weather, and limited camera movements to keep the focus on the story. This was the first Woody Allen film to use a digital process for coloring instead of traditional methods. Allen tested this technique to see if he would use it in future films.

Allen’s directorial style focused more on the romantic and realistic parts of the story than the fantasy elements. He said he was only interested in telling a romantic tale and included fantasy parts only if they helped the relationship between Owen Wilson’s character and Marion.

The film begins with a 3½-minute montage showing famous Paris landmarks. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times noted that this scene lasts longer than needed to simply show the setting. Turan wrote that Allen wanted to highlight how special Paris is, a place where magic can happen.

Midnight in Paris is the first Woody Allen film shot entirely in Paris. Earlier films, Love and Death (1975) and Everyone Says I Love You (1996), were partially filmed there. Locations used in the film include Giverny, John XXIII Square (near Notre Dame), Montmartre, Deyrolle, the Palace of Versailles, the Opéra, Pont Alexandre III, the Sacré-Cœur, the Île de la Cité, and streets near the Panthéon.

Marketing

The Sony Classics team turned a challenge into an opportunity. They gathered a list of reporters invited to the Cars 2 event and sent them information about Midnight in Paris, encouraging them to ask Wilson questions about the Allen film during the Pixar press event. Wilson answered these questions about his role in Paris, which helped reporters write many stories. Sony Classics also obtained Wilson’s TV schedule to promote Cars 2 on shows like Late Show with David Letterman, and they purchased ad time for Paris on nights when Wilson appeared on television.

The film was co-produced by Allen’s Gravier Productions and the Catalan company Mediapro. Sony Pictures Classics acquired the film for distribution. This is the fourth film co-produced by the two companies, following Sweet and Lowdown, Whatever Works, and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. The film’s poster design is inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s 1889 painting The Starry Night.

During promotion, Allen agreed to participate in only limited publicity for the film’s debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Wilson was already focused on promoting Cars 2, which opened in late June, several weeks after Allen’s film was released. Because of these challenges and the small $10 million budget for promotion, Sony Classics had to carefully plan media ads and press interactions to support the film.

Release

The film had its first showing at the Cannes Film Festival on May 11, 2011, when it opened the festival for both professionals and the public. It was released nationwide in France the same day, which is traditionally when French cinemas change their movie schedules. The film showed in six theaters in the United States on May 20 and earned $599,003 in its first weekend. Three weeks later, it expanded to 944 theaters for a wider release.

Midnight in Paris earned the most money of any of Woody Allen’s films in North America before adjusting for inflation. It made $56.3 million in North America, more than his previous best film, Hannah and Her Sisters, which earned $40 million. As of 2016, Midnight in Paris was the most successful film directed by Woody Allen worldwide, with $151 million earned on a $17 million budget.

The film received strong praise from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 93% approval rating based on 224 reviews, with an average score of 7.8 out of 10. Critics said the film is not as deep as some of Woody Allen’s earlier works but is still funny and charming enough to please his fans. This was the best review Allen received on the site since Bullets Over Broadway in 1994. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 81 out of 100 based on 40 reviews, meaning it was widely praised. The film was well-received after its premiere at the 64th Cannes Film Festival. Todd McCarthy from The Hollywood Reporter praised the film’s cinematography and said it has the clear and quick pacing of Allen’s best work.

A. O. Scott from The New York Times noted that Owen Wilson’s performance as the main character was successful. He called the film “marvelously romantic” and said it blends “whimsy and wisdom” well. He also praised the cinematography, supporting actors, and called it a memorable film. Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4.

Richard Roeper, an American film critic, gave Midnight in Paris an “A” grade, calling it a “wonderful film” and “one of the best romantic comedies in recent years.” He said the actors were all excellent and praised the film’s witty dialogue. Rob Kirkpatrick from The Huffington Post said the film marked a return to form for Woody Allen, calling it “a surprising film that reminds us of the magical qualities of cinema.”

Midnight in Paris was compared to Allen’s earlier film The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) because both use magical realism without explaining it. David Edelstein from New York praised this approach, saying it avoids the complicated explanations often found in time-travel movies. He called the film “Allen’s best in more than a decade” and said it is graceful and funny.

Peter Johnson from PopCitizen said the film’s historical settings were its strongest feature, but he felt the humor was weaker. Joe Morgenstern from The Wall Street Journal praised the cast and the film’s visual style, calling it a sign of new energy in Allen’s career. Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, calling it “amiable” and “sporadically entertaining” but not as strong as Allen’s earlier work. In 2013, The Guardian readers voted it the ninth best film directed by Woody Allen.

Richard Corliss from Time said the film was “pure Woody Allen” but not necessarily great or even good. He criticized the film’s harsh judgments of characters and said it lacked the depth of Allen’s earlier works. Quentin Tarantino named Midnight in Paris his favorite film of 2011. The film was well-received in France, with Allocine giving it 4.2 out of 5 stars based on 20 reviews.

In 2021, the film’s screenplay was ranked 83rd in the Writers Guild of America’s list of the 101 greatest screenplays of the 21st century. In 2025, it was included in The New York Times’ list of the 100 best movies of the 21st century, finishing at number 189.

The film’s line, “The past is not dead. Actually, it’s not even past,” was taken from a quote in William Faulkner’s book Requiem for a Nun. The Faulkner estate sued Sony Pictures Classics for using the line without permission, but a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in 2013, ruling it was a fair use of the quote.

The film’s soundtrack was released on December 9, 2011, and the film was released on Blu-ray and DVD on December 20, 2011.