Paris, 13th District (2022) - Jacques Audiard

​Paris, 13th District is very french, very horny, and there are aspects of this film that simply don't work but it ultimately placates its more obnoxious pretensions through its exhibition of the pervasive ways in which technology influences the social arena. Paris, 13th District is ultimately a rumination of modern urban living in which the everyday absurdities and confusions of life ultimately make these characters deeply empathetic and relatable despite their proclivities towards self-satisfaction above all else. What makes this film work quite well for me, in the end, is the film's exhibition of the invasiveness of technology, as these characters are largely individuals who've seen their consciousness distorted and rearranged by new technology (dating apps, connectivity of social media, etc) in a way that blinds them from their true desires. I don't think this film always works, and as I mentioned there are good and bad elements to this film in terms of narrative circumstances it unfurls to invoke its thematic intent, but I ultimately was won over by the film's examination of the impact of technological progress, how it distorts and rearranges aspects of social life (dating/courtship) but ultimately something as primordial as love cannot be rearranged/reconfigured by human invention (technology).