Product Description

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 01/13/2009 Run time: 100 minutes Rating: R

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14104 in DVD
• Brand: Twentieth Century Fox
• Released on: 2008-02-05
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.25 pounds
• Running time: 104 minutes

Amazon.com
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 Two 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 (duh) 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. Despite their differences in style, these two have enjoyable chemistry together, and Goldberg is gifted with razor-sharp timing. Good to see Delpy, who has often been tapped for ethereal types, playing a feistier character than usual. It doesn't hurt anything at all that they are walking and talking through Paris, a city with an inexhaustible number of attractive angles. At some point you may begin to realize that the movie doesn't seem to be about very much, and without Linklater's ingenious fixed-time structure, there's little urgency to the ongoing conversation. If you haven't seen the Linklater films, absolutely check those out first, and consider this a photogenic side dish. --Robert Horton

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Stills from Two Days in Paris (Click for larger image)

Customer Reviews

Embarrassing (for Delpy)
First half of the picture is OK, somewhat entertaining and funny but after that, when it's more about the couple relationship, everything gets confused and uninteresting. Delpy is everywhere in the movie but has little to say beyond the usual clichés. And why this recurrent class-racism towards taxi drivers?
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Delpy connaît bien les États-Unis où elle habite, certes avec des interruptions, mais depuis ses études (ce qui doit faire une petite vingtaine d'années). Elle est donc très bien placée pour faire un film sur un Gringo découvrant les Français. Cest bien mené, bien vu et drôle pendant la première moitié du film. Malheureusement ensuite le film s'embrouille et perd de sa substance et donc de son intérêt. En effet, la personnalité de cette jeune femme (au demeurant fort bonne actrice) n'est pas assez dense et il est dommage quelle imprègne tout le film : Delpy a fait le film, la monté, a fait une partie de la musique et y fait jouer ses parents. Même si on ne sait rien de sa vie privée et de ce qu'elle a vraiment mis de ses expériences dans le film, elle se montre trop pour qu'on ne sache pas séparer Delpy de son personnage Marion. Le seul intérêt du film est ce qu'une expatriée voit de la France et la réalisatrice aurait dû se limiter à cet aspect, surtout que son acteur, Adam Goldberg, est crédible (sans plus cependant ; habitué des séries télévisées qui ont fait connaître son visage, il essaye de s'en sortir en jouant un personnage de sous-Woody Allen auquel on a la charité de croire). Le petit monde parisien est bien croqué, malgré les clichés bobos sur les chauffeurs de taxi ; ils sont la cible d'un étonnant « racisme de classe », très courant à Paris il faut le dire. Ce qui est moins bien vu est tout ce qui a trait au couple et comme l'histoire à ce propos prend beaucoup de place à la fin et qu'elle n'est pas assez structurée, la dynamique du film en pâtit. Deux moments désagréables sont un chauffeur de taxi qui n'aimant personne ne peut être qu'antisémite et un bourgeois expatrié qui, étant cadre, ne peut être qu'amateur d'adolescentes thaïlandaises (bons et mauvais expatriés ? on a deviné qui faisait partie du premier groupe). Autre chose d'étonnant : une constante vulgarité et beaucoup de gros mots hors de propos (les parents sont étonnamment et inutilement orduriers).

En bref, elle n'aurait pas dû s'exposer ainsi.

Delightful movie
This is a lovely movie, and I utterly enjoyed watching it - twice; however I could see how it might not suit everyone's taste.
Firstly, I think having a bi-cultural background (while not a prerequisite) definitely helps appreciate its humor and charm. Granted, both protagonists are archetypes to some degree (he the neurotic, hypocondriac New Yorker; she the bohemian, hot-tempered Frenchwoman); and there are also some heavy-handed moments (for example the rather cliche dinner with the French parents, where a stewed rabbit head is consumed to the horror of the American boyfriend); but there are also plenty of little gems - private jokes, meaningful glances and quips that any Franco-American couple will instantly identify with and smile at. For me, those moments really made the movie.
Secondly, it is a quintessentially Delpy/Linklater movie, in the sense that it's highly verbose and stream-of-consciousness, to the point of sounding unscripted at times. This can be pretty polarizing; but I think it's a treat if you enjoy the journey rather than the destination, and if you enjoy movies where the plot is clearly not the point.

Lost in Translation
Free love is a rather glum affair in Julie Delpy's directorial debut. Fans of the angelic Ms. Delpy, or of Paris, will have to check this out, naturellement, but it is best to keep your expectations rather low. Delpy demonstrates a sure hand with framing shots, and really, it's not possible to make Paris look unappealing, but Delpy and Adam Goldberg as the respective halves of an estranged couple sure give it the old college try, with more or less constant bickering marring the pretty views. Enroute home to New York after a disasterous trip to Venice, Marion (Delpy) and her crabby, misthanthropic boyfriend (Goldberg) stop off for a weekend in Paris to visit her parents. These two have been together for two years, which is long enough for once charming and endearing clashes in personal style to become grating and hateful, and that is the point at which these two have arrived. Within the familiar environment of her childhood home, Marion is transformed in the eyes of her culture-shocked beau into something of a potty-mouthed slut with an indiscriminate and prolific past; he is not sure how to cope with this unflattering metamorphosis or the revelation that Marion has seemingly slept with half the men in Paris prior to moving in with him. There are some nuggets of comedy gold here that Adam Goldberg might have been able to mine were he more like Bill Murray and less like himself, which is to say, dour and hairy. As much as the audience wants to sympathize with his linguistic and romantic plight, Goldberg makes his character deeply unappealing, and we think yeah, it might be better if he were out of the picture altogether. Three stars for some charming street scenes of Paris, and for the delightfully bawdy performances of the actors playing Marion's maman and papa--they are Delpy's real-life parents and are the best thing in it.