2 Days in Paris

Marion, a French photographer living in New York, and Jack, her American boyfriend, stop in Paris for two days on the way back from a holiday in Venice. Two days later their relationship is not where it started. The film is not interested in culture clash jokes. It is interested in where jealousy comes from: Jack has no French, which means Marion can talk to her exes in a language he cannot follow. Translation becomes a question of power. The form is fast, loud and talk-driven, and for long stretches the camera looks at nothing except two people wearing each other down. Julie Delpy wrote, directed, edited and scored the film, and plays the lead. Marion's parents are played by Delpy's own parents, Marie Pillet and Albert Delpy. The family on screen is not acting like a family; it is one. Adam Goldberg plays Jack, and Daniel Brühl turns up as someone from Marion's past. Who it is for: viewers who like the talkative register of the Before films and want the sour side of the relationship comedy. Who it is not for: anyone hoping for a polite romantic comedy. The film is willing to be crude about sex, jealousy and family, and it refuses to shoot Paris as a postcard.