''This Is Paris'' is a 2020 documentary film produced by

YouTube Originals YouTube Premium, formerly known as YouTube Red, is a subscription service that provides advertising-free streaming of all videos hosted by YouTube, offline play and background playback of videos on mobile devices, access to advertising-free mus ...

about media personality

Paris Hilton Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, socialite, model, and entertainer. Born in New York City, and raised there and in Beverly Hills, California, she is a great-granddaughter of Conrad ...

, including her experiences as a former victim of the

troubled teen industry The troubled teen industry is a term used to refer to a broad range of youth residential programs aimed at struggling teenagers. The term encompasses various facilities and programs, including youth residential treatment centers, wilderness progra ...

Plot

''This is Paris'' is about Hilton's day-to-day experiences and shows previously unknown stories regarding her personal life. In the film, she reveals her experiences with being gooned, and the emotional, verbal and physical abuse she experienced while attending a series of boarding schools as a teenager. It also chronicles Hilton's professional trajectory, from the beginning to the present day, supported by interviews with family members and friends.

Production

The film was directed by Alexandra Dean, financed by

The Intellectual Property Corporation The Intellectual Property Corporation (IPC) is a production company based in Van Nuys, California. IPC was founded in 2016 by producers Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman, and funded via private equity from three investors and former collaborators Sh ...

and released by

. Dean was first contacted by IPC following the release of her previous documentary, '' Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story'' (2017). "They saw all these parallels between ''Bombshell'' and Paris," Dean stated in an interview with ''CNN'', adding: "I thought Paris is definitely unseen and misunderstood. I mean, I didn't see her or understand her for decades. I definitely wrote her off. ..She has a billion dollar empire. She runs it and whether you like it or not, whether you like her or not, you have to respect that. It's not an easy thing to do. She does it almost solo. I saw that up close". Despite not being prepared to disclose certain information, Hilton trusted Dean's approach and found the process of filming to be a healing space for her. She served as a producer but did not have artistic authority over the production, which she admitted was a big risk, since she always had "complete creative control" of her business ventures. Filming took place between 2019 and 2020, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, among other locations.

Reception

Viewership

''This is Paris'', released on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

on September 14, 2020, garnered over 16 million views in its first month of release. As of November 2022, the documentary has amassed over 75 million views on the platform.

Critical response

On the review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the documentary has an approval rating of 63% based on 8 reviews. Two reviewers deemed it a successful "rebranding" of its subject's image.

References

External links

* {{Paris Hilton 2020 films 2020 documentary films YouTube Premium original series Paris Hilton American documentary films Youth rights 2020s English-language films 2020s American films