“Paris, 13th District” Jacques Audiard and two female filmmakers created an orthodox romantic comedy.

A bold change from Adrian Tomine's original work.

Scenes from the Olympiad area are occasionally inserted between the love stories of the four characters. This area, created by urban redevelopment in the 1970s, is said to be a multinational town with many high-rise apartment buildings and buildings, and a large population of Asian immigrants. It is true that the inorganic scenery, including the apartment complex at the beginning, is somehow different from the images of ``beautiful Paris'' that we have seen in various French films.

This movie was originally based on an American graphic novel. The original work is three short stories collected in the short story collection `` Summer Blonde '' and `` Killing and Dying' ' (both translated by Akane Nagasawa, published by Kokusho Kanko Kai) by Adrian Tomine, a fourth-generation Japanese American. ``Vacation to Hawaii'' stars a Taiwanese-American woman who is not good at socializing. ``Amber Sweet'' is a woman who enters college and is mistaken for a porn star. ``Killing and Dying'' depicts the awkward interaction between a father and a daughter who aspires to become a stand-up comedian. This third story is transformed into a story about the brother and sister Camille and Éponine (Camille Léon: The Professional-Fuchien).

"Paris, 13th District" © ShannaBesson ©PAGE 114 - France 2 Cinéma

Although it is not made clear in the film, Tomine himself admits that all of the stories in Killing and Dying are set in California. Also, reading the commentary by author Daisuke Kawasaki included in `` Summer Blonde ,'' most of Tomine's works are set in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the artist lived for many years, and that geography is important in understanding the works. It is said that it is.

Considering the importance of geography in the original work, it must have been a great adventure to change the setting from California to Paris. The change from living in a house and own car to living in an apartment complex and traveling on the subway has been significant. However, it can be said that this is precisely why the Olympiad area was chosen. With few historical buildings and a lack of so-called Parisian scenery, this area could be a place in the middle of nowhere, far from both California and Paris. It is the perfect city to bridge the gap between the original work and the movie. This may be the reason for the choice of monochrome.

What the collaboration with two female filmmakers brought us