It's a collage of miniatures, a collection of gemlike vignettes. In "Paris, je t'aime," 21 directors of various nationalities create 18 bite-size shorts (the longest being five minutes) about Paris, each one named after a Parisian neighborhood. Like a plate of hors d'oeuvres from a five-star restaurant they're expertly crafted, lovely to behold and offer distinct, individual taste experiences.
Ultimately, the stories aren't about Paris per se, but involve universal experiences and conditions, but how can the city not tinge them with a particular poetry.
There's discourse on life, relationships and even the supernatural, and how the yearning for love can be so strong but its bonds extremely fragile. In a segment called "Quartier Latin," (directed by Frederic Auburtin and Gerard Depardieu) a divorced American couple meet in a restaurant (the talk is of wine, lawyers and papers) to finalize their situation. The ex-husband (an impeccable Ben Gazarra) and the ex-wife (the lovely-as-always Gena Rowlands) are frostily polite, but it's clear that old wounds still smart like hell despite the solicitous attentions of the bartender played by an atypically inconspicuous Depardieu.