The trailer for Paris, Je T'Aime is online and although it seems difficult to work out any of the story lines, other than just love and in Paris, you can see a whole range of big names, the actors on screen and the directors as their names flash by.

Paris, Je T'Aime has a whole list of big names associated with it that I can't even begin to list, but I will pick out a few. In the Director chair we have the Coen Brothers, Wes Craven, Alfonso Cuarón, Gérard Depardieu, Vincenzo Natali, Walter Salles, Gus Van Sant, etc. While in the Actors trailer we have names such as Steve Buscemi, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Nick Nolte, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Bob Hoskins, Elijah Wood, Natalie Portman, Rufus Sewell, Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara, Gérard Depardieu, and so on.

Yes, you can already tell it is big. The film itself looks at the simple story of love from so many different angles, set against the backdrop of the beautiful city that is Paris. Twenty Directors bring eighteen stories of love into the film, and judging by the blurb on IMDB there seems to be a connection.

Now before we head to the trailer here's the rather heavy blurb, but stick with it because it reveals something interesting about how the stories weave together and what their purpose will be.

Each director has been given five minutes of freedom, and we, as producers, carry the responsibility of weaving a single narrative unit out of those twenty moments. The 20 films will not appear in the order of the arrondissements, from one to twenty, but rather, in a pertinent narrative order, initially unknown to the audience.

They will be fused together by transitional interstitial sequences, and also via the introduction and epilogue sequences of the feature film. Each transition will begin with the last shot of the previous film and will end with the first shot of the following film, and will have a threefold function:

1) The first is to extend the enchantment and the emotion of the previous segment,
2) The second is to prepare the audience for the surprise of the next segment, and
3) The third is to provide a general, comfortable and cohesive atmosphere to the feature film.

The delightful and brief interludes of these transitions will enable the viewer to slide from one world to the next, featuring a recurring and unexpected character. This mysterious character is a witness to the Parisian life and helps create a continuous narration.

So there's going to be a common character guiding us through the stories, but what really interests me is how they made it. I found myself asking that question as I watched it, how do the Directors get together and decide that? Well perhaps each Director just filmed an ending and the next Director had to pick it up from there and make his story, like a relay race of film.

Paris, Je T'Aime looks set to be an exciting film for cinema, and not just because of the stars and talent involved, but for the style too. I'm definitely excited to see it, and in the meantime here's the teasing trailer over at Apple Trailers [QT:L:iPod:480p:720p:1080p].