Home A&E ‘2 Days in Paris’ Unlike, Say, 2 Days in Culver City

‘2 Days in Paris’ Unlike, Say, 2 Days in Culver City

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Frédérik Sisa
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The couple is Marion, a French expatriate living in New York, and her American boyfriend Jack, played by Adam Goldberg with an uncanny Woody Allen-style neurosis. What drew them to each other in the first place is not exactly clear. In all fairness, though, this is a movie about the potential end to a sputtering relationship. While it’s easy to believe that these are two people who probably shouldn’t be together, dramatic tension comes from wondering whether some insight or revelation will occur to bring them together.

*Room for Interpretation*

Goldberg and Delpy are marvelous in their roles. But Delpy’s real parents (Albert Delpy and Marie Pillet) – playing Marion’s parents – steal scenes with outré dialogue and a whiff of playful raunchiness that tweaks but doesn’t seriously aim for offense. Taken altogether, “2 Days in Paris” has a cast that inhabits the movie’s world with an easy realism that contributes to a “fly-on-the-wall” feeling.

There is poignancy to the underlying struggle for intimacy, particularly Jack’s attempts to get a handle on the little white deceptions that stem from Marion’s own unresolved emotional issues. But there’s hilarity as well: through arguments and sarcasm – set amidst the bizarre antics of Marion’s parents, the continuing flirtations of her former exes, and lashing critiques of American politics and French culture – a relationship’s emotionally fraught turning point offers ripe moments for laughter. Throughout it all, perceptions of the characters change, making Jack and Marion alternately likeable and disagreeable. Goldberg’s Jack is a quasi-hypochondriac with jealousy issues…obnoxious, to some extent, until we learn more about Marion’s less than exemplary character traits, in which case Jack becomes more sympathetic. In encouraging viewers to be interactive interpreters instead of mere observers, ambiguous emotional reactions to Jack and Marion as people goes to show their humanity and Delpy’s solid, astute understanding of her subject.

“2 Days in Paris” is a worthy counterpart to the “Before” films and an excellent film in its own right.

*Entertainment Value:* ** (out of two)
*Technical Quality:* ** (out of two)

‘2 Days in Paris.’ Written and directed by Julie Delpy. Starring Julie Delpy, Adam Goldberg, Marie Pillet and Albert Delpy. 96 minutes. Rated R for sexual content, some nudity and language.

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