Midnight in Paris.

Midnight in Paris.

a)    Paul says that Nostalgia is denial.  The denial of painful present. Do you agree with this?

In real life it may be expressed when some people want to return to childhood, or to another city or country where they have lived a more complete life and a more friendly and happy environment.

I think in the case of the film, it is the denial of an unsatisfactory, frustrating and exhausting Gil´s life , clearly Paul did not have that problem but Gil suffered with a life that he could not control and make richer in feelings, happiness and creativity.

Gil did not accept his unsatisfactory life, so the refuge was the France of 1920s. He had a world he could not share with Inez. They had nothing in common except the plan to marry.

The triggers for this denial were all around Gil: a girlfriend who did not understand him, materialistic political relatives.  She wanted to live in Malibu and Gil wanted to live in Paris, they were absolutely different, and being different is fine, but you must respect those differences and accept the other as an independent person who decide together to be life partners. Ines was intolerant.

I think Gil's denial was an unsatisfactory and incomplete life. Inez represented everything that Gil destabilized him in terms of what he wanted to achieve and limited his freedom and inspiration.

Gil was a writer living in this particular world full of imagination and adventures waiting to be lived. Anyways being an emotions seeker is typical from writers and artists.

On the other side, Inez is fine, but she needed another totally different person next to her, Gil definitely was not that person.