La Femme Delpy

Julie Delpy’s latest film ‘2 Days in Paris’ has her name written all over it - literally. Delpy made her first feature-length directorial debut at feature length with this film, and also wrote, produced, edited, composed the music and provided still photography for it, and holds her ground on each count. If Delpy could have played every role, she probably would have, but then the viewer would have missed out on the hilarious performances and interactions of the other actors. But if she ever turns the film into a one-woman play, it’d definitely be worth seeing.

The plot seems exactly what the title suggests: Marion (Delpy) and her boyfriend Jack (played by real-life ex Adam Goldberg) spend two days in Paris with Marion’s parents (played by Delpy’s parents), her sister, and several ex-boyfriends. But the cultural differences that spring from seemingly nowhere complicate the comfortable two-year relationship, exposing the parts of themselves that they’ve kept hidden from each other.

The cultural oppositions between American (Jack) and French (Marion) are two obvious differences in the film (evidenced by location and sometimes by language – the film is in English and French, sometimes with subtitles and sometimes without), but other opposites spring up and force the couple to search for common ground. This exploration begins in the credits, where Marion’s voice-over describes her relationship with her boyfriend as they journey by train, and the landscape view from the train changes to match each phrase: “some ups, some downs, but mostly in betweens.” The delicate charm and humor of this short sequence set the tone for the rest of the film, though the end results aren’t always so simple or easy.

The film has numerous parallels to reality that can be distracting to an informed viewer. Marion, a photographer, has a birth defect on her retinas; Delpy, also a photographer, has commented publicly on her inability to judge distance and depth. Marion’s father operates an art gallery; all the artwork for that scene was done by Delpy’s father, Albert. The camerawork feels more like a documentary than a commercial film, and Delpy chose family and friends for many roles. With too many similarities to be dismissed as mere coincidence, one wonders what else in the film was stolen from reality, and it sometimes detracts from the enjoyment of an otherwise delightful film that ranges from egotistic to easygoing, from laugh-out-loud hysterical to utterly serious.