2 Days in Paris

Actress Julie Delpy (Before Sunrise) writes, directs, edits, produces, stars in and even composes music for her crowd-pleasing directorial debut. With a snappy comic edge, the story revolves around Marion bringing her American boyfriend Jack (Adam Goldberg) on a visit to Paris. Between clashes of culture, language and flirtatious ex-boyfriends, their relationship is tested in this charming, smart gem. Jack (Adam Goldberg) is a sharp, neurotic New York interior designer; his girlfriend Marion (Julie Delpy) is a smart, sometimes cagey French photographer. They've been together in New York for two years, but they are about to spend two days in Paris that will put their relationship to the ultimate test. When they arrive at Marion's childhood home in Paris, her parents, played brilliantly off-the-wall by Albert Delpy and Marie Pillet (Delpy's real parents), immediately make Jack uncomfortable with crude humor and topics-including a bizarrely revealing photograph-that are merely anecdotal amusement to the family. Marion and Jack uncover more cracks in their compatibility as they travel around town; he is shocked by her erratic temper, evidenced by outbursts at a racist Parisian taxi driver, ex-boyfriends or anyone else who rubs her the wrong way. As he meets one overly-friendly male acquaintance after another, Jack is consumed by jealousy and questions what Marion has kept from him about her romantic past. The snowballing mystery in Jack's mind threatens to end their relationship in utter disaster. Perfectly cast, Goldberg delivers a manically funny, yet ultimately empathetic performance. As a writer-director-producer-editor-composer-star, Delpy deftly handles her hyphenate role, weaving brilliant humor with a myriad of intellectual, political and psychological musings. Whether considering Jack and Marion's relationship, or the world at large, she takes the stereotypical French versus American debates further and deeper, playing on both truth and the often total absurdity of this complex relationship.