Butler's Cinema Scene

Dominique Abel, Emmanuelle Riva, Fiona Gordon…atop the Eiffel Tower

“LOST IN PARIS” My rating: B+ 

83 minutes | No MPAA rating

Imagine “Amelie” made by Buster Keaton.

That’ll provide an idea of the disarming blend of charm and goofiness on display in “Lost in Paris.”

Made by the husband-and-wife team of Dominque Abel and Fiona Gordon (he’s from Belgium, she’s Australian), this wacky but thoroughly satisfying comedy is part vaudeville routine, part silent movie, and all pretty wonderful.

Fiona (Gordon) is a Canadian librarian who looks like a cartoon character. Her face is long, her neck even longer. She’s like a red-headed Olive Oyl who peers at the world through glasses so big they dwarf her face.

Early in “Lost in Paris” Fiona receives a message from her beloved Aunt Marta, who years earlier fled snowy Canada for the life of a dancer in Paris. Now, reports Marta (the late, great Emmanuelle Riva), the social workers want to relocate her from her apartment to a retirement home.  They say she’s losing it.

To rescue her auntie Fiona must get entirely out of her comfort zone, flying to France and negotiating the city  beneath a gigantic red backpack topped with a Canadian flag. She just misses Marta, who in an effort to keep her freedom has taken to living on the street.

Worse, Fiona is separated from her backpack, losing her money, passport, clothing and cell phone. Suddenly she’s homeless as well.

Fiona Gordon

Enter Dom (Abel), a hobo living in a tent on the banks of the Seine. He’s the kind of guy who arises each morning, stretches like a big cat, and nonchalantly takes a wiz into the river in full view of passengers on the passing tour boats. Once he lays eyes on Fiona it’s love at first sight…though getting her to accept his devotion will be a chore. (Abel does all this with a minimum of dialogue…the guy has body language that won’t stop.)

“Lost in Paris” is less well plotted than it is a series of masterful comic  scenes relying on spectacular coincidences to link them together. Some of these moments — Fiona taking an accidental header into the Seine, the love-struck Dom clutching her in a tango routine that is simultaneously hilarious and touchingly romantic — are as good as any comedy moments we’re likely to see this year.

Plus, the film has the added benefit of playing out against the beauty of Paris, including a trip to Pere Lachaise Cemetery and a big finale atop the Eiffel Tower.

Add to this the pure joy of Riva in her final role (it’s so obvious this veteran is relishing the opportunity to make us laugh), and you have a inconsequential masterpiece that will stick with you for…well, maybe forever.

| Robert W. Butler