2 Days in Paris

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She: "I'm 33 years old. You knew I wasn't a virgin."
He: "Of course you're not a virgin. Far from it, in fact."

That's pretty much the gist of this independent romantic comedy from Julie Delpy, who writes, directs, and co-stars with the ever-sarcastic Adam Goldberg. When Jack and Marion, who've celebrated two years of being a couple (with the usual ups and downs and in-betweens) go to Venice, everything is a-o-k. But when the pair decides to spend two days in Paris on their trip back to New York and the life they've built together, things start to get weird . . . for Jack.

Back on her home turf, his Parisian girlfriend has plenty of conversations that Jack isn't privy to, because he only speaks a few phrases of French. But he knows human nature, and he can spot flirting when he sees it. Cab drivers offer to give her a baby if he isn't up to the task, old boyfriends on the street make eye contact that says "let's pick up where we left off," and when her cell phone rings and he glances at it, he sees all sorts of text-messages from all sorts of guys.

"Is there anyone in Paris you haven't slept with?"

Even Marion's parents (Delpy's real-life mom and dad, Marie Pillet and Albert Delpy) seem obsessed with sex . . . or at least not as uptight about it as poor Jack. When Marion shrugs off a mere "blowjob" that she says she thinks she gave this guy, Jack's response gives some sense of the way he sees things: "It was a blowjob that brought down America's last chance at a healthy democracy." This, from a guy who misdirects a group of American tourists to the Louvre because one of them is wearing a Bush-Cheney t-shirt.

That's it, really. There are no sideplots (unless you count those irate tourists, who turn up later), no twists and turns--just two days in Paris with these two people, shadowing them as they feel the bond between them turning suddenly into a gulf. But it's the kind of story that almost anyone can identify with, if you've ever accompanied a spouse to a high school reunion or retraced some of your spouse's footsteps from pre-you days.

You could also say that "2 Days in Paris" is like a French version of "Meet the Parents," with a series of events running approximately parallel and leaving the hapless boyfriend feeling like Bill Murray in "Lost in Translation." What makes this work, though, are the two stars and the credible, dreadable tension that unfolds. Plus, Delpy relies heavily on long takes with a hand-held camera and tight shots of the couple, rather than the usual two-shot/reaction shot you get from slick romantic comedies. The result is a film that feels like docufiction, and it puts the focus so squarely on the two main characters that the burden also falls on them to pull it off.

And I think they do that in fine fashion, each one becoming Marion or Jack and behaving so much like a real couple that their performances will evoke all sorts of memories (and paranoia?) in couples who watch.

Delpy, best known for her acting ("Before Sunset," "Broken Flowers"), is at her best when she shocks her significant other by taking perverse pleasure out of putting cab drivers in their place, talking more like a sailor than a photographer. Some might tire of Goldberg's Everyman, but I thought he nailed down a believable blend of Woody Allenesque befuddlement or resignation with a more pugnacious sarcasm that better suits the tattoos he has all over his body.

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