I Love Paris

“My name is Paris,” she (Aminata Thiboult) says, explaining that from her perspective, this means that everybody wearing an ‘I love Paris’ t-shirt is expressing devotion to her.

We see this film almost wholly from the perspective of her Australian friend (Nicky Murphy), who barely appears on camera himself but occasionally gets a line or two as they negotiate plans for filming her activities. These are pretty one-sided negotiations, as Paris knows what she wants and tends to give short shrift to other people’s ideas. She wants to be a star, to make a success of her music, which means that she needs TikTok videos. Living in Paris, it ought to be possible to find somewhere evocative to shoot them, but wherever she goes, she keeps getting told to move on. Finally she finds a dark tunnel in the corner of a park, and begins to sing – only to be mortified when a voice pipes up out of the shadows, telling her to fuck off.

The tone of that voice will change when Paris cuts herself trying to leave through a gap in the railings, and before you know it, Murphy is filming not just TikTok videos but also a vampire documentary. That’s right. It turns out that the City of Light is swarming with vampires, some of whom, much to the amusement of their kin, occasionally resort to living in tunnels. But Lutèce (Leonor Oberson) is not a typical vampire. She doesn’t really fit in, and doesn’t get invited to the good parties. Paris, who depends on her to learn the rules, gradually discovers that a lot of what she’s been told is bullshit. The thing is, by then Lutèce is a mate, so what can you do?

A lot of what other people say about vampires is, it emerges, also bullshit. To her distress, Paris does not acquire any special powers – just a chronic illness which feels like the worst kind of hangover and can only be assuaged by drinking blood. “You need to eat someone before morning or you’ll die,” Lutèce warns her, and it turns out that our narcissistic heroine does have a conscience after all. She doesn’t want to kill anyone. Then again, she does still have stardom in her sights – and when it comes to deserving targets, the music industry provides.

A hit with viewers at the 2026 Fantasia international Film Festival, this incorporates a great deal more petulance and whining than the average mockumentary, but is sufficiently astute in its observations to remain entertaining. It’s remarkably bleak in places, but if anything, its take on the music industry is generous. It is good to see a focus on financial exploitation and the general treatment of talent as disposable, widespread problems which sometimes get overlooked when the focus is on more easily sensationalised issues. The film’s take on vampires is easy to accept, based as it is on an extension of existing subcultures (and with a sideswipe at the city’s famous gourmands).

If there’s a problem with the film, it’s that there’s very little variation in tone, and although Paris changes aspects of her behaviour, she doesn’t have much of an emotional arc – indeed, she may not really be capable of it. Still, there are plenty of laughs along the way, and the ending makes a salient point about what it means to keep company with people like her, whether they have supernatural powers or not. Its format makes it feel like a 21st Century take on Interview With The Vampire, and whilst it seems unlikely to have quite such a long life, that’s not for lack of bite.

Reviewed on: 01 Aug 2026