Good story, Not enough for a whole film

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

"Nadja à Paris" is a French French-language live action short film that runs for a bit over 13 minutes and was released back in 1964, so it is already over half a century old. The protagonist you see in here is the late Nadja Tesich and she tells us a bit about her life in Paris as the title already suggests. I believe, not just because of the character having the same first name, that this is a true documentary. Tesich also wrote the screenplay here. The director is the late Eric Rohmer inm the earlier, but not earliest stages of his career. He is definitely more known than his lead here, but there is something missing in terms of charm that other French filmmakers during that time achieved with their black-and-white (short) films. It never feels as defining in terms of how Paris is depicted. The central character never feels really too interesting to watch and same can be said about the minor characters who disappear again as quickly as they enter the picture. Quite a bit of a shame I must say as I really wanted to like this one more than I did eventually. Even the music is forgettable and the savoir-vivre element is missing almost completely. Watch something else instead.

This short will resonate with those, who in that beautifully exploratory, slightly melancholy part of their youthful discoveries of themselves, have lived abroad in a city like Paris - alone. There is no structure to the film, as there is no preordained structure to this exploratory journey. It's done through aimless, open-minded adventures and chance encounters that have an almost deterministic quality to them. This feast of food, art, strangers and friends-- this, Paris offers in abundance.The film builds to a moving denouement in which the heroine reflects on what Paris has taught her about growing up. Nothing happens, but everything happens.

The film says what it is as Nadja (acted and also written by Nadja Tesich) narrates her slacker existence in 64' Paris that is more (It has a better resume than our narrator.) a new wave Paris travelogue than Nadja. Nadja has the trendy look and possible mood of the impetuous, youthful feel ex-pat (ala Seberg) but only manages to project a spoiled child's lassitude which even at 24 minutes in length is overlong.What makes this celluloid brevity interesting is the fact that it is directed by Eric Rohmer and lensed by Nestor Almendros (Days of Heaven). In Rohmer's case Nadja might serve as an opening to one of his moral tales - it certainly mimics the dull, self absorbed characters that never seem to get anywhere in his lengthier efforts. With Almendros photography you are given no clue he would become the accomplished cinematographer he was in both Europe and Hollywood. Some of it resembles my college film class super eight work with a poorly oiled tripod. It's encouraging to know that there were moments that he was as bad as me.

"Nadja a Paris," a short film from Eric Rohmer, tells the story of a Yugoslavian-born girl (who was adopted by an American family, who goes to study at the Cite Universitaire in Paris. The character development, considering the brevity of the film, is pretty good, but overall, the film doesn't pack much of a punch at all. Rohmer's other films tend to have an overlying meaning (or "point"), often in a moral lesson. This short is basically a love letter to Paris. "We'll always have Paris." We've all heard that before, and we accept it. Hearing a student experiencing the joy of Paris for the first time isn't exactly exhilarating.