Collections of vignettes as displayed in Paris, je t'aime don't always congregate to form a brilliant ensemble with an over-arching sense of the sublime, and yet here is that holiest grail – a great mosaic of a film that manages to evoke a distinct sense of its subject and also explore the fragmented nature of both its inhabitants and society.

Society may be a little far-fetched – the film goes in much more for the jugular topic of “love” but never comes off overly-enamoured with its own sentiments, managing that delicate balance of satire and conviction (captured beautifully by the Coen brothers' instalment). Other than the dominant theme of love, the shorts each share a distinct sense of the unexpected, with more than a few of the films flipping expectations in the closing frames.

Stacked atop the star names and headline directors, Paris je t'aime's ace is its ability to strobe the range of human emotion across the palettes of some of the world's leading talent. From Christopher Doyle's wonderfully expressionist poem to Alfonso Cuaron's captivating street-walk, Paris , je t'aime captures the French capital quite unlike anything before it. Like a great anthology of poetry, Paris je t'aime is amorous, beautiful, frightening, relaxing, startling and above all it is Paris .

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