Paris Je T'aime (2007)

'JE T'AIME' IS TRUE Natalie Portman is one of the familiar faces in Paris, a surprisingly appealing collection of short films about romance in the City of Light

Anthology films usually work better in theory than execution, but this feature parade of shorts is a blithe, worldly, and enchanting exception. Paris, Je T'aime is an 18-canto love poem not just to Paris but to the romantic dislocations of urban life. The highlights include Joel and Ethan Coen's antic subway tale, with Steve Buscemi trapped in a metro station; Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas' definitive tweak of the class contradictions of nannies and their employers; and, best of all, Alexander Payne's sublime snapshot of a hilariously stunted middle-American tourist (Margo Martindale) who, on the loneliest of vacations, witnesses the birth of her soul.