Paris

Arnaud Desplechin's new film centers on the memories of a middle-aged Frenchman who returns to Paris after years of living abroad. Critic John Powers says My Golden Days is "achingly romantic."

Francine Prose's latest novel was inspired by a 1932 photo of two lesbians, one of whom was in the Gestapo. Critic Maureen Corrigan says it's an ingenious excursion into the Parisian demimonde.

The director's latest comedy stars Owen Wilson as a time-traveling writer who winds up in Paris, in the 1920s, alongside Fitzgerald, Hemingway and Stein. Critic David Edelstein says Wilson's acting is superb -- and the film recalls Woody Allen's earliest days in film.

Luc Besson's latest action fantasy, From Paris With Love, stars John Travolta as an FBI agent and Jonathan Rhys Myers as a diplomat trying to stop a terrorist attack in Paris. The story moves at warp speed — and it doesn't skimp on thrills.

Fresh Air's film critic says Hou Hsiao-hsien's homage to the 1956 Alan Lamorisse film is as much a masterpiece as the original — but on its own singular terms.

Film critic Henry Sheehan reviews Moulin Rouge, starring Nicole Kidman.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Panama by Eric Zencey and The Alienist by Caleb Carr.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews the new movie "French Kiss," starring Kevin Kline and Meg Ryan.

Film critic Stephen Schiff has a review of "Ready To Wear," Robert Altman's ensemble film about Paris fashion shows.

Commentator Geoffrey Nunberg has a revised look at springtime in Paris.

Drummer Arthur Taylor. He's played with Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk and he's put together a new expanded collection of interviews he's done with fellow musicians: "Notes and Tones: Musician-to-Musician Interviews," (Da Capo Press). It's one of the few books about black jazz musicians by a black man, and because of that Taylor's subjects were able to talk freely about the role of black artists in white society.

Film director Alan Rudolph. His films include "Choose Me," "Trouble in Mind," "Welcome to L.A." and "Made in Heaven." His latest film, "The Moderns," which took ten years to make, is set in the ex-patriot community in Paris in the 1920s and features many actors and actresses who have appeared in his earlier films, such as Keith Carradine and Genevieve Bujold and Geraldine Chaplin.

Artist, writer, and poet Françoise Gilot During her l0-year relationship with Pablo Picasso, they had two children, Claude and Paloma. She is now married to Dr. Jonas Salk. She has written the books Life With Picasso, Interface: The Artist and the Mask, and her new book, An Artist's Journey.