DVD REVIEW

2 Days in Paris

Fox Home Entertainment || R || Feb 5, 2008

Synopsis

Julie Delpy, having spent the entirety of Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise and Before Sunset walking around European cities and talking, decides to take hold of the reins herself in 2 Days in Paris. For this somewhat similar gabfest, Delpy writes, directs, and casts herself as one half of a neurotically fun couple, who stop over to visit her parents for a couple of days in Paris. Adam Goldberg brings his shaggy worrywart persona as Delpy's better half - and why shouldn't he worry? Her parents seem happy to play pranks on him, and Delpy's ex-boyfriends materialize in every arrondissement.


Critique

How can you not love Julie Delpy? Seriously, she is one of the most engaging people in cinema, and we see too little of her. She has enough personality to overcome the missteps of her latest directorial effort.

2 Days In Paris has been compared to Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, two films she made with Richard Linklater (like the former, 2 Days even opens on a train). While those are both better films, 2 Days In Paris is nothing to scoff at. Here we have a couple, a French girl and her American boyfriend, a conceit that opens up both French and American culture to criticism.

Jack (Adam Goldberg, another Linklater alum) is self-absorbed and not the most likable guy. He is a borderline xenophobe who never really seems comfortable. When he and Marion (Delpy) arrive in Paris, he is approached almost immediately by a group of Americans (we know they’re American before they ever say anything.

They are all obese, one woman wears a Bush/Cheney ’04 t-shirt, and another clutches a copy of The Di Vinci Code) who ask him if he knows how to find the Louvre. He points them in the right direction. That is, he points them in the direction that is right for him, which is away, off, down the street, away from him. It is a contemptuous move, but Jack is no different from them.

We quickly find out that the two things he most wants to do in Paris are visit the catacombs and the Père-Lachaise Cemetery (to see the grave of Jim Morrison, the lead singer of a band he doesn’t even like), two major Parisian tourist attractions. He never gets to see either, and he never seems comfortable interacting with the real Paris.

Marion just wants to have fun, and she never seems as self-absorbed as Jack, but her serious side comes out when they encounter a racist cab driver. Jack doesn’t speak French (of course), so he is only involved by association. Marion goes off on the driver, finally exclaiming, “That’s France, that’s France.” That’s also the biggest problem with 2 Days In Paris: the film focuses on the two cultures more than the two people, and it gets to be a bit much at times. The MESSAGE gets to be a bit LOUD. By the time Jack wanders into a fast food restaurant by himself and can’t put together enough French to order a meal, we’ve seen too much of him for it to be funny; all the comedic potential has been drained from it.

In the end, the characters admit something that has been obvious from the first scene. For a couple that has been together for two years, they don’t know each other at all. It’s an interesting moment that comes too late.


Video

2 Days In Paris is presented in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The color in the film is flat, and the overall look is that of a vacation snapshot, which suits the film. The transfer is sharp, and the color levels are well balanced.


Audio

The disc is presented in 5.1 Dolby Surround, and the presentation is solid. The dialogue and ambient sounds are well presented, and all the channels are clear and well balanced. The best example of this is when they are on the streets of Paris: we actually get the sense of being on a busy city street.


Special Features

An Interview With Julie Delpy: a junket interview with the film’s writer and director. She covers just about every aspect of the film. This is somewhat interesting, but it’s a junket interview, so there is something of a scripted feel to it.

Extended Scenes: five of them.


Final Thoughts

2 Days In Paris is a fun film, but it feels a bit forced at times, like an imitation of films Delpy has already done. The overall presentation is okay, but the disc could do with more bonus material.

VERDICT: RENT IT

 

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Review posted on Mar 16, 2008 | Share this article | Top of Page

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