DVD PICK OF THE WEEK: 2 Days in Paris

(originally written in September of 2007)

I haven’t reviewed a directorial debut by an already seasoned actress in a long time before this day, yet here I find myself writing about two back to back. It took a little while longer for Julie Delpy than say, Sarah Polley, to convince a studio that she could write and direct her own film and make it appeal to more than one type of audience. I’m sure what finally sealed the deal for her was being nominated for the original screenplay Oscar a couple of years, along with Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke for Before Sunset. If not, it had to play a major part in giving her a shot at creating something herself. I’m not sure if this film, called 2 Days in Paris and starring herself and another Linklater-used actor and altogether big-headed role player, Adam Goldberg, will particularly find more of an audience outside of those who are comfortable with Delpy’s original thinking, but I found it to be majorly entertaining.

The point in this film, I assume, is to not try to be innovative with the setup, because there have already been enough culture-clash romances in recent years alone. I think Delpy knows not to try and pry open anything on the outer core of what it’s essentially about, but only to tell a story of two people now together for enough time to start thinking about long-term, permanent commitments, being put through a seemingly harmless trip through one’s hometown of Paris, 2 days before going back to the place they call home in New York. They are Marion and Jack, and throughout the film’s timeframe of 48 hours, they visit her parents and travel in and out of the streets of Paris. It is in various confrontations with significant people from Marion’s past, among other various disasters, that there relationship will truly be tested. I might be getting a little away from telling what the film is trying to be as far as genre, because despite what I’ve written here previously, the movie is certainly a comedy, and uproarious quite frequently.

There are definitely moments in this film that tinker with tearing apart at the seams, but that’s simply normal for a first-time filmmaker. What’s key in the film is that Delpy manages to right the ship and create something that she can be proud of, and I hope she is, because it is purely, indepently hers all the way, and has all the great attributes from what we’ve known her by as an actress all these years. The supporting cast is headed by Delpy’s real mother and father, Albert Delpy and Marie Pillet, who provide great, memorable humor in numerous sequences. What ultimately makes the film really worth more than what one wouyld expect is the performance by Godlberg, who has played the ego-tripping character so many times that the casting choice seemed like it could doom the film. But here he is so charmingly arrogant and has a terrific role written by Delpy that he finally hits the right notes with a role that he’s done what seems like a dozen times already in his career. The two share a chemistry I didn’t expect and it helped it’s outcome greatly. 2 Days in Paris ends up extremely likeable and should give Ms. Delpy her freedom should she choose to continue down the path of writer and director in the future.

Rating: A-

R
94 minutes
Samuel Goldwyn