Film Review: 2 Days in Paris

Director: Julie Delpy

Written, produced and directed by Julie Delpy, this is a romantic drama with a few comedy elements with the fingerprints of Richard Linklater and the Before Sunrise franchise where Delpy played Céline. Here the restrictive nature of a couple just talking to one another is removed but the realistic look at two thirty somethings in a relationship and how difficult it can be is exposed.

Marion (Delpy) is a French born photographer living in New York City with her American boyfriend Jack (Adam Goldberg) who is a neurotic hypochondriac. They return to Paris after an unsuccessful weekend away in Venice to spend two days with Marion's parents (played by Julie Delpy's real life parents) and see her friends who live in the city. They soon begin to annoy each other with their behaviour and in Marion's case the number of ex-boyfriends she still sees round Paris.

Marion and Jack at dinner with Marion's parents

The arguments and strife between the couples is very reminiscent of the aforementioned trio of films by Richard Linklater in which Julie Delpy stars. She has taken this theme and run with her own idea of two different people struggling with very similar issues. Neither character is perfect here but on the surface it appears that Jack is the more openly irritating and difficult to like but then as the film progresses we see more of Marion's flaws that make you realise its usually down to both parties.

Delpy is solid in familiar territory with a role not hugely removed from Céline that she plays in Before Sunset, the second movie in the trio, where she is more experienced in the world and less naive. Adam Goldberg is impressive as the abrasive easy to dislike American who fears everything he doesn't know and recognize in Europe. A film with some funny moments but wouldn't surprise me if it lead more Americans to think of the French as a weird bunch.

2.5/4 Sweet and funny but not quite groundbreaking