A Mermaid in Paris

Gaspard sings in his family's cabaret on a boat moored on the Seine in Paris. The cabaret is about to close. One night by the river he finds an injured woman: she has a tail. Lula is a mermaid, and the hearts of men who hear her song stop. Gaspard swore off falling in love after a separation, so the song does not work on him. He takes her home and puts her in the bath. Mathias Malzieu writes and directs, from his own novel. Nicolas Duvauchelle plays Gaspard and Marilyn Lima plays Lula, with Rossy de Palma in the cast. Malzieu is the singer of the French band Dionysos and had previously made Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart; the same fabulist vein continues here. The visual world is deliberately artificial: coloured lights, handmade sets and fantastical objects. Paris is not touristic and not realistic either. The idea is not loving in order to be safe. Gaspard has shut his feelings off and that protects him from death; the film builds the figure openly. The weakness is the script. The visual ideas get in front of the narrative, the characters stay thin, and the pace drops in the second half. The music is the strongest element and consists of Malzieu's own compositions. Who it is for: viewers who like French fantastical fables and films that put design first. Who it is not for: the story is thin, the emotional pitch is high, and the fantasy world is too ornate for some.