French screenwriter and director Alice Winocour brings one woman’s profound story of trauma and healing to the screen in her 2022 drama “Revoir Paris”. Winocour brings a profoundly personal story to the screen with the film’s narrative being inspired by Winacour’s brother who was involved in the 2015 terror attacks in Paris in which 137 people lost their lives.
César winner and 5 time nominee Virginie Efira takes on the lead role, starring as Mia, a Russian translator who inadvertently becomes a victim of a deadly terrorist attack after seeking refuge from heavy rain in a Parisian restaurant. Three months later Mia is still reeling from the physical and emotional scars left behind by the attack, struggling to recall what happened during the attack. Determined to recover her memory from that night and move on, Mia finds herself travelling down multiple paths, from bonding with fellow survivors like Thomas (Benoît Magimel) and family members of the deceased like Félicia (Nastya Golubeva), confronting her own emotions and traumatic memories of the attack, and attempting to find the man who helped her make it through the attack by hiding with her. These paths take Mia on an emotional, healing journey that will help her move on with her life after it was put on pause by the attack.
Virginie Efira delivers a layered, delicate performance as Mia that brilliantly powers the film forward. Her stellar performance as a woman haunted by her experiences anchors the film and brings home the intricate emotions present on screen throughout the entire 105-minutes. Alongside Efira, César winner Benoît Magimel gives an equally strong performance as he and Efira’s characters begin to bond over their shared experiences of the attack. His portrayal allows audiences to see how others were impacted by the attack as his character is still suffering from the physical injuries he sustained that night. Efira and Magimel’s performances gel well together to form a unique friendship between the two characters that unfortunately becomes an unnecessary and contrived romance in the film’s final scenes. “Paris Memories” also shows how the loved ones of victims are affected by events like this, as seen with Grégoire Colin’s performance as Vincent, Mia’s partner. Although he’s not featured much in the film, Colin’s portrayal shows how victim’s loved one’s struggle to move on with their partners after such traumatic experiences and can end up inadvertently treating their partner’s differently and ending up frustrated by constantly being shut out as they attempt to heal.
Alice Winocour puts in a terrific directorial effort, bringing an intricate portrayal of one woman’s emotional turmoil as she’s forced to sift through her scattered memory and deal with haunting emotions from one of the biggest nights of her life. Winocour handles this complex, emotionally heavy story with the care and delicacy needed in order to create a powerful film like “Paris Memories”. Writers Marcia Romano and Jean Stéphane Bron collaborate with Winocour on a screenplay that seamlessly translates from page to screen and doesn’t suffer from feeling uneven or overstuffed. The film covers a plethora of themes throughout from the power and healing aspect of human connection, to the physical, mental, and emotional impact terrorism has on its victims, to the way survivors are haunted by the things they saw even months on from the attack. One of the most devastating parts of the film comes when Mia is accused by a fellow female survivor of locking others outside the bathroom during the attack, when later in the film the survivor apologises to Mia as it's revealed she was actually the one who locked others outside.
“Paris Memories” is a film fuelled by its profound and deeply powerful emotion as Alice Winocour delivers audiences a complex story of trauma, healing and connection wrapped up in a neat 105-minute runtime with a mostly satisfying ending. The film’s intricate story is bolstered by the stellar performances given by the cast, with Virginie Efira standing out amongst them with her impressive and compelling portrayal of Mia. Winocour crafts a sincere film that allows audiences to see just the kind of impact, physical and emotional, that terrorism has on its victims and the lengthy healing process that comes after it.