Dir. Julie Delpy, 2007, France/Germany, 96 mins, some subtitles
Genre: World/Drama/Comedy/Romance
Cast: Julie Delpy, Adam Goldberg, Daniel Bruhl, Albert Delpy
Review by Richard Mellor
2 Days in Paris proves two things. Firstly, that romances between Julie Delpy and scruffy-haired Americans don't always work, for all the best assertions of Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. In addition, it makes the point that you don't need slapstick stupidity or inane idiots for a film to be seriously funny.
Directed by, produced by, written by and starring the energetic enchantress Julie Delpy, 2 Days' focus is on Marion (Delpy) and Jack (Goldberg): a New York-based couple stopping over in Paris following a visit to Venice. The jaunt to Italy was intended to rekindle their romance; instead Jack got gastroenteritis. Paris promises little better, as the pair must contend with Marion's overbearing, often crude parents.
As if this pair of goading Gauls was not enough, the neurotic Jack also has to endure mildew (a big no-no for him) in Marion's bedroom, minute French contraception (“Is this a kid's size condom? Do they make condoms for kids?”) and Marion's flirtatious old flames, with whom she seems a little too close. Mix in language and culture barriers, and the result is one anxious American.
Worse still, Jack and Marion appear more than a little mismatched. She is a dreamer, prone to long bouts of standing still and physically attacking ex-boyfriends in cafés – much to Jack's chagrin and our glee. He meanwhile, despite believing himself an easy-going liberal, spends his time reading her text messages, losing erections, getting jealous and being generally crabby and chauvinist.
In the absence of much romance, Delpy's script is fiercely funny – in fact, so much rolling in the aisles will you be doing, there's little point bothering with a seat. The humour is dark and delicious, and no-one is spared – the French, the Americans and even we British suffer, as Jack shrinks a taxi queue by deceiving bumbling UK tourists into thinking that the Louvre is five minutes' walk away. The bastard.
Where Before Sunset and Sunrise (the comparison is inevitable) were all sweetness and night, 2 Days is an edgier beast. It makes much more of the Franco-American divide its couple must navigate. Chiefly, Jack's straight-laced American ethics lead him to regard Marion like a piece of real estate: as evidence of her past misdemeanours continues to crop up, so his valuation of her seems to dwindle.
But, in a strange twist, Delpy's film seems to side with Jack. The camera always follows him and not Marion, and events are seen almost exclusively from his perspective. And for all his foibles, Jack's sarcastic, antagonistic humour renders him highly likeable, a character you're desperate to side with and have on your team.
When discussing Marion's perceived infidelity and the significance of oral sex, Jack drolly reminds his partner that “it was a blow job that brought down America's last chance at a healthy democracy”. Often his humour carries a quality of dramatic irony: he subtly mocks the various French who annoy him in ways that only he, and we, catch onto. Goldberg is excellent: an encyclopaedia of frustrated shrugs, tortured glances and mischievous smiles.
Delpy also excels, particularly magnifique as her character turns to near-psychotic. Funnier still are Marion's parents (played by Delpy's real-life mum and dad). In one particularly memorable moment, Jack is ridiculed (in French he cannot understand) for a photograph where he has attached a helium balloon to his penis.
The chief delight of 2 Days is Delpy's steadfast refusal to take seriously Marion and Jack's bickering – we all know there are bigger problems in the world. Even the mandatory make-up or break-up conclusion is somewhat light-hearted – and anyway, it presages what rapidly becomes another funny row.
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