Paris one of my favorite cities in the world, so any chance to visit – in real life or on television – I am here for it all. It’s a city on this earth that is filled with such joy, passion, and culture that you can’t help but stare at it and know that there is magic.
Yes, there are a few cities like that in the world, but I do believe that people will all always look Paris differently.
Alexa PenaVega and Nicholas Bishop star in The Hallmark Channels latest movie, A Paris Proposal. In the movie, they play coworkers, Anna and Sebastian, who truly can’t stand each other. They are complete opposites – one wound tight and one very carefree. They work for an advertising agency and are being sent to Paris to pitch the biggest client of their career – Durand Diamonds.
Now before I dive deeper in, all I could think was if they are going to go and pitch diamonds, this is Hallmark’s answer and twist on How To Loose A Guy in 10 Days. So I was intrigued. So intrigued that for once, I didn’t try to write a review at the same time as watching – I slammed my computer shut, curled up under the covers, and was all in.
Now back to the movie.
It’s every persons (ok, well, most of us) dream to be told that they are going to have be sent to Europe with work footing the bill, but for Anna, she doesn’t want to go. Her boss thinks that it’s because her and Sebastian don’t get a long, but it’s more than that. You can see it in Anna’s eyes.
That’s Alexa PenaVega’s acting though. She is able to convey emotion with her body, heart, and soul. She isn’t just going through the motions, she’s becoming every part of her character. She makes you feel for the character that she’s playing and as if she can understand whatever pain that the character would feel.
Anna is so driven and focused that she puts her feelings and fear of returning to Paris aside and pulls herself up by her bootstraps. She’s ready to do her job and head back to New York as quickly as possible.
Upon arriving in Paris, Sebastian and Anna start to find out things about each other. She’s studied in Paris and his family owns one of the most exclusive stores in the city. Each of them seems shocked to learn about the other, but I have to wonder, if it was more that they were shocked over the things that they were admitting.
I think that for each of them, there is the surprise of letting down their walls. There is the surprise that for each one of them, they are facing their fears – not that they’d admit that to each other.
But that is until Anna and Sebastian are faced with having to face their past. At the pitch Anna thinks she sees her ex and accidentally makes it seem like her and Sebastian are married. It’s something that he goes along with and you just know that this lie is going to get out of hand.
The thing about a fake marriage – it’s always going to lead to drama, the people getting to know each other and falling for each other, but fighting it with everything that they are. Anna and Sebastian grow to learn about each other and find themselves fighting for each other.
Fighting for each other in the ways that they are sticking up for each other, they are making each other laugh, they are getting to know each other, they are betting on each other. They take moments and movement seriously. They see what others don’t see in the other person.
Anna is struggling with the lie that the two have going on, but she also is falling hard for a man that is reminding her of what it’s life to live and not just exist. Torn, she admits, at a gala that they have been lying and it’s not something that she’s proud of. They made a mistake. She knows that.
You can tell that the two of them belong together, but you can also tell she’s running from it, because of the hurt and pain that she’s used to in life. But you also see her find a way to want to still let him know that she cares.
In a series of twists and turns, the two find themselves betting on their love and themselves. They’ve made their mistakes in life. They’ve screwed up. But they’ve also found a way to get through. They’ve found a way to believe in themselves.
I loved this movie and yes, I will say that in part that had to do with Paris. Paris was its own main character. The other reason, because I truly feel like Hallmark continues to do everything that they can to break outside their mold. I loved that part of the cast was french actors, that they showed an ex-pat, that they made us laugh with an Instagram for pet jewelry. It goes to show you that they are paying attention to everything.
With that though, Hallmark continues to tell amazing stories of love, heart, and finding joy.
And hey, they always give a good proposal.
