2 Days in Paris
Encyclopedia
2 Days in Paris is a 2007 French
-German
romantic
drama film
written, produced, and directed by Julie Delpy
, who also edited the film and composed the soundtrack
.
with her neurotic, hypochondria
cal, chain-smoking, heavily tattoo
ed American interior design
er boyfriend Jack. After a markedly unromantic trip to Venice
, which was planned to re-ignite the passion in their relationship, they take a night train to Paris
to pick up Marion's cat from her parents and decide to stay for two days. Jack is startled to learn Marion has remained in contact with numerous ex-lovers and becomes increasingly uncomfortable due to the language barrier and a multitude of her old flames she keeps meeting. Meanwhile, Marion wrestles with her own insecurities about love, relationships, and her impulsive nature.
station in the Paris Métro
and the grave of Jim Morrison
in Père Lachaise Cemetery
.
. It went into theatrical release in Germany on May 17, 2007 and was shown at the Seattle International Film Festival
, the Tremblant Film Festival in Canada, the Los Angeles Film Festival
, and Paris Cinéma before going into theatrical release in France on July 11 and the United States on August 10.
, Roger Ebert
called Julie Delpy "an original, a woman who refuses to be defined or limited" and said she "has made a smart film with an edge to it... What she has done here is avoid all temptation to recycle the usual lovers-in-Paris possibilities, and has created two original, quirky characters so obsessed with their differences that Paris is almost a distraction."
Stephen Holden
of The New York Times
said the film "is an inside-out version of the much-admired Richard Linklater
films Before Sunrise
and Before Sunset
, in which Ms. Delpy and Ethan Hawke portray a French-American pair who meet, part and reunite years later. Where Mr. Linklater’s movies were weepies for the kind of educated, upscale young cosmopolites who have a soft spot for romances like Casablanca
, Ms. Delpy’s examination of modern love among the almost young and still restless is bracingly hard-headed."
In her review for the Los Angeles Times
, Carina Chocano said, "At first blush, 2 Days in Paris looks like it's going to be the story of a culture-clashing couple. But slowly and rather slyly, Delpy zeros in on something much more subtle and complex. What interests her are not the superficial differences between people from different countries... but the way in which the distances between people, genders and cultures (the very distances we rely on to grant us the perspective needed to see how completely insane other people, genders, cultures really are) seem to shift constantly according to circumstances."
, the European Film Awards Audience Award for Best Film, and the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Film. The film won the Coup de Cœur Award from the Mons International Festival of Love Films.
"It's about the difficulty of relationships but also about the main character's evolution in general. It's a very modern story about the complexities of being a woman and not being completely consumed by your partner," Delpy explained. Comedian Chris Rock confirmed on Howard Stern November 8, 2010 that he is set to play the "new guy" in the film. Delpy is aiming to have this sequel finished and ready by Cannes 2011. Other members of the Paris cast, including Delpy's real father Albert, will return to their same roles for the film.
Cinema of France
The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...
-German
Cinema of Germany
Cinema in Germany can be traced back to the late 19th century. German cinema has made major technical and artistic contributions to film.Unlike any other national cinemas, which developed in the context of relatively continuous and stable political systems, Germany witnesses major changes to its...
romantic
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
written, produced, and directed by Julie Delpy
Julie Delpy
Julie Delpy is a French-American actress, director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. She studied filmmaking at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, and acted in more than 30 films, including Europa Europa , The Voyager , Three Colors: White , Before Sunrise...
, who also edited the film and composed the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
.
Plot
Marion is a French-born photographer living in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with her neurotic, hypochondria
Hypochondria
Hypochondriasis or hypochondria refers to excessive preoccupation or worry about having a serious illness. This debilitating condition is the result of an inaccurate perception of the body’s condition despite the absence of an actual medication condition...
cal, chain-smoking, heavily tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
ed American interior design
Interior design
Interior design describes a group of various yet related projects that involve turning an interior space into an effective setting for the range of human activities are to take place there. An interior designer is someone who conducts such projects...
er boyfriend Jack. After a markedly unromantic trip to Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, which was planned to re-ignite the passion in their relationship, they take a night train to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to pick up Marion's cat from her parents and decide to stay for two days. Jack is startled to learn Marion has remained in contact with numerous ex-lovers and becomes increasingly uncomfortable due to the language barrier and a multitude of her old flames she keeps meeting. Meanwhile, Marion wrestles with her own insecurities about love, relationships, and her impulsive nature.
Cast
- Julie DelpyJulie DelpyJulie Delpy is a French-American actress, director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. She studied filmmaking at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, and acted in more than 30 films, including Europa Europa , The Voyager , Three Colors: White , Before Sunrise...
as Marion - Adam GoldbergAdam GoldbergAdam Charles Goldberg is an American actor, director, producer, and musician.-Early life:Goldberg was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Donna and Earl Goldberg, a former lifeguard. His father is Jewish and his mother is a "lapsed" Roman Catholic of Irish, French, and German descent...
as Jack - Daniel BrühlDaniel BrühlDaniel César Martín Brühl González Domingo is a Spanish/German actor. He is best known as Daniel Brühl.-Personal life:Brühl was born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. His father was the late German stage director Hanno Brühl and his mother was a Spanish professor. He also has a brother and a sister...
as Lukas - Marie Pillet as Anna (Marion's mother) Pillet is also Julie Delpy's real life mother.
- Albert Delpy as Jeannot (Marion's father) Delpy is also Julie Delpy's real life father.
- Aleksia Landeau as Rose (Marion's sister)
- Adan JodorowskyAdan JodorowskyAdan Jodorowsky or Adanowsky is an actor and musician.Jodorowsky is the son of Chilean Alejandro Jodorowsky and Mexican Valerie Jodorowsky, and is the brother to Brontis Jodorowsky. He has appeared in five films to this day...
as Mathieu - Alexandre Nahon as Manu
- Vanessa Seward as Vanessa
- Thibault De Lussy as Gaël
Production
The film was shot on location in Paris. Sites included Gare Du Nord train station, PasteurPasteur (Paris Metro)
Pasteur is a station on lines 6 and 12 of the Paris Métro in the 15th arrondissement. The platforms on both lines are underground, although line 6 becomes elevated just to the northwest of the station. Nearby are the Pasteur Institute and the Lycée Buffon .-History:The station opened on 24 April...
station in the Paris Métro
Paris Métro
The Paris Métro or Métropolitain is the rapid transit metro system in Paris, France. It has become a symbol of the city, noted for its density within the city limits and its uniform architecture influenced by Art Nouveau. The network's sixteen lines are mostly underground and run to 214 km ...
and the grave of Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors...
in Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris, France , though there are larger cemeteries in the city's suburbs.Père Lachaise is in the 20th arrondissement, and is reputed to be the world's most-visited cemetery, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to the...
.
Distribution
The film premiered at the Berlin International Film FestivalBerlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
. It went into theatrical release in Germany on May 17, 2007 and was shown at the Seattle International Film Festival
Seattle International Film Festival
The Seattle International Film Festival , held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees...
, the Tremblant Film Festival in Canada, the Los Angeles Film Festival
Los Angeles Film Festival
The Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by the Los Angeles Times is an event held annually in June in downtown Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles Film Festival began as the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 1995. The first LAIFF took place over the course of five days in a single...
, and Paris Cinéma before going into theatrical release in France on July 11 and the United States on August 10.
Critical reception
In the Chicago Sun-TimesChicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
, Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
called Julie Delpy "an original, a woman who refuses to be defined or limited" and said she "has made a smart film with an edge to it... What she has done here is avoid all temptation to recycle the usual lovers-in-Paris possibilities, and has created two original, quirky characters so obsessed with their differences that Paris is almost a distraction."
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
said the film "is an inside-out version of the much-admired Richard Linklater
Richard Linklater
-Early life:Linklater was born in Houston, Texas. He studied at Sam Houston State University and left midway through his stint in college to work on an off-shore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. While working on the rig he read a lot of literature, but on land he developed a love of film through...
films Before Sunrise
Before Sunrise
Before Sunrise is a 1995 romantic drama film directed by Richard Linklater and written by Linklater and Kim Krizan. The film follows Jesse , a young American, and Céline , a young French woman, who meet on a train and disembark in Vienna, where they spend the night walking around the city and...
and Before Sunset
Before Sunset
Before Sunset is a 2004 American romantic drama film and the sequel to Before Sunrise . Like its predecessor, the film was directed by Richard Linklater. However, this time Linklater shares screenplay credit with both actors from the movies, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy...
, in which Ms. Delpy and Ethan Hawke portray a French-American pair who meet, part and reunite years later. Where Mr. Linklater’s movies were weepies for the kind of educated, upscale young cosmopolites who have a soft spot for romances like Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
, Ms. Delpy’s examination of modern love among the almost young and still restless is bracingly hard-headed."
In her review for the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Carina Chocano said, "At first blush, 2 Days in Paris looks like it's going to be the story of a culture-clashing couple. But slowly and rather slyly, Delpy zeros in on something much more subtle and complex. What interests her are not the superficial differences between people from different countries... but the way in which the distances between people, genders and cultures (the very distances we rely on to grant us the perspective needed to see how completely insane other people, genders, cultures really are) seem to shift constantly according to circumstances."
Awards and nominations
Julie Delpy was nominated for the César Award for Best WritingCésar Award for Best Writing
This is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Writing .-1975–1979:*1975: Bertrand Tavernier, Jean Aurenche: Que la fête commence...
, the European Film Awards Audience Award for Best Film, and the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Film. The film won the Coup de Cœur Award from the Mons International Festival of Love Films.
Sequel
In Feb 2010 it was announced a sequel was to be made titled 2 Days In New York. Actress/director Julie Delpy will be reteaming with Rezo Films to produce the "atypical sequel." She will direct the sequel in Manhattan in October. Delpy will reprise her role as Marion, a Frenchwoman who now finds herself in New York with her child and a new guy, having broken up with her 2 Days In Paris lover (and the father of her child) who was played by Adam Goldberg."It's about the difficulty of relationships but also about the main character's evolution in general. It's a very modern story about the complexities of being a woman and not being completely consumed by your partner," Delpy explained. Comedian Chris Rock confirmed on Howard Stern November 8, 2010 that he is set to play the "new guy" in the film. Delpy is aiming to have this sequel finished and ready by Cannes 2011. Other members of the Paris cast, including Delpy's real father Albert, will return to their same roles for the film.