From the philosophies of life expressed by the major characters to the travelogue and historic content, Midnight in Paris is the pluperfect fine arts flic.
Who are the people that Gil meets after midnight?
Cool people who lived in, visited, socialised in or passed through Paris in the 1890s and 1920s :
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940): widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Well known for the 'The Great Gatsby' novel and the short story 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'.
Zelda Fitzgerald (1900 - 1948): American novelist, literary celebrity, married to Scott Fitzgerald.
Ernest Hemingway (1899 -1961): was an American author and journalist. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Best known for 'A Farewell to Arms' and 'For Whom the Bell Tolls'.
Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973): was a Spanish painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. One of the best-known figures in 20th century art. Co-founder of the Cubist movement.
Salvador Dalí (1904 - 1989): was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter. Best known for the painting 'The Persistence of Memory'.
T.S. Eliot (1888 - 1965): was a American playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948. Best known for the poems 'The Waste Land, 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' (mentioned by Gil Pender in the film) and 'The Hollow Men'. He spent most of his life in Britain, having become a British citizen. He was a director of the publishing firm Faber and Faber.
Henri Matisse (1869 - 1954): was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter. Commonly regarded as one of the artists who helped to define the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts in the opening decades of the 20th century. Best know for the 'Bathers by the River' painting.
Man Ray (1890 - 1976): American Modernist painter and renowned portrait photographer.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864 - 1901): French post-impressionist artist and illustrator.
Luis Buñuel (1900 - 1983): Spanish filmmaker of such works as 'Los Olvidados' (1950) and 'The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie' (1972). Many of his films contain surrealist imagery and are critical of organised religion and the middle-classes.
Paul Gauguin (1848 - 1903): French Post-Impressionist artist. Ended his life in French-Polynesia.
Gertrude Stein (1874 - 1946): Influential American writer, art collector, poet and literary figure.
Cole Porter (1891 - 1964): Immensely popular American composer and songwriter who had particular success on Broadway. Famous songs include: 'You Do Something to Me', 'Night and Day', 'I get a Kick Out of You', 'Anything Goes', 'Begin the Beguine' and 'Just One of Those Things'.
Josephine Baker (1906 - 1975): Dancer, singer, and actress, one of the first notable African American artists in the entertainment industry.
Juan Belmonte (1892 - 1962): Spanish bullfighter and close friend of Hemingway who often served as inspiration for his writing.
Leo Stein (1872 - 1947): Art collector, critic, and Gertrude's brother.
Edgar Degas (1834 - 1917): French artist and sculptor most famous for his elegant portraits of dancers.
Jean Cocteau (1889 - 1963): French artist who worked in many fields, known as much for his wide circle of artist friends and lavish parties as for his poetic films and writings. [in Midnight in Paris, he is only mentioned in passing]
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