40
Metascore
19 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75New York PostLou LumenickNew York PostLou LumenickA gleaming hunk of French period schmaltz expertly rendered by director Christophe Barratier.
- 70Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasParis 36 has a beguilingly authentic sound and offers a blend of impassioned sentiment and harsh, even brutal grit
- 60New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanBarratier directs with a jaunty artifice more typically seen on stage, but with the exception of Arnezeder, his cast turns theatricality to its advantage. They're offering us a sunny fantasy during a cloudy time, and seem well aware that we're unlikely to resist.
- 50New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinHopelessly amateurish, the troupe is saved by a remarkably pretty young blonde called Douce with a sweet soprano to match her angel face. The gifted, unknown actress-singer who plays her, Nora Arnezeder, also saves the movie, which would otherwise blur into a mass of droopy, mustached, big-honkered Gallic character actors.
- 50VarietyEddie CockrellVarietyEddie CockrellSchematically scripted tale revels in its multiple story arcs, but shows signs of battle fatigue in the later reels.
- 50The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe overstuffed film lumbers across clichés of the heart and of history until it reaches a big, tune-filled climax that isn't worth the wait.
- 40The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterThe movie is almost rescued by the wonderful 1930's style songs (written by Reinhardt Wanger and Frank Thomas) that populate its final act.
- 30Village VoiceMelissa AndersonVillage VoiceMelissa AndersonLike Amélie's scrubbed-up "City of Lights," Paris 36 is an antiseptic arthouse trifle, so eager to soothe that it only numbs.
- 10The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottSo shameless in its pandering, sentimental vision of Frenchness as to constitute something of a national embarrassment.
- 0Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanIt's like a pastry that's been sitting on the shelf for 60 years.