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I’m just going to say it: Julie Delpy’s revision of the romantic comedy, 2 Days in Paris, is just what this hetero-narrative obsessed world needs right now, especially in the U.S. Oh, and by the way, when I say “Julie Delpy’s new film”, I quite literally mean it. If you stay and watch the credits you will see that this talented human being starred, directed, produced, wrote, composed music and edited the film. Wow, talk about auteur: suck it, Goddard.

“So what’s this all about” you ask? Well, in the film Marion (Delpy) and her long-term boyfriend Jack (Adam Goldberg) are on their way back from Venice when they decide to drop into Paris, Marion’s old digs, and visit her friends and family before flying back home to New York. The title itself becomes hilarious and mocking after all the drama and head-trips that are packed into two little days in the City of Love: angry American “code-breaker” tourists, Marion’s very French parents, racist cab drivers, too-fresh farmer’s markets, creepy ex-boyfriends and a anti-globalist fast food chain bomber. All of this equals one of the funniest and most sincere tributes to and critiques of the human heart I have ever seen on film.

This seemingly normal couple’s normalcy and relationship is put to the test almost hourly as Marion’s liberal, Parisian cultures and pasts clashes with the rigid, Jewish, New York culture of Jack (I know the plot sounds generic but read on). For example, almost every ex-boyfriend of Marion suddenly appears in the two days the couple is in Paris; Jack soon realizes that this coincidence is probably due to the fact that his girlfriend has slept with almost every guy in Paris. Paranoia starts to grip Jack, and while this very real paranoia provides many moments of comic element, it becomes sincere mental anguish that provides fuel for the film’s climax. Adam Goldberg does a kick-ass job in this film: good job, Adam. The film’s tension and most comic moments come from Marion trying to explain and vocalize the difference between the Parisian way of life and love to her American boyfriend while navigating a language barrier and a lifetime of cultural divide.

This film is great, though, in that it doesn’t say that one culture is right or wrong, [i.e. free spirited Parisian love vs. rigid American love] but that we, as humans, are inherently flawed and fucking insane when it comes to love. In fact, this film seems to expose some fallacy of French romance. For example, Parisian’s get jealous too, despite their “free-thinking” sexual attitude (as in Marion’s parents in one of the funniest revelations in the film), and that Paris, as a city, isn’t really that much more romantic than Fresno, CA.

As the hand held, grit-style camera technique shows, this Parisian love story is more real than American love stories. Delpy’s film portrays dating as almost a quest for redemption to our flawed way of life; at the very least, some kind of understanding and acceptance of said flaws. And this, the movie shows us, is dating: the life-long quest to find someone who can say, “you’re fucking crazy, but that really turns me on.” This film is most certainly not the grandiose, soft focus, over dramatic America love story of two soul mates questing for eternal love at the age of 23. With so many people rushing to get married by their mid 20’s today, I love that this film proudly boasts Delpy and Goldberg’s characters in their mid-thirties as an indirect way of saying to the audience, “slow down, live your life, figure out who you are and don’t rush it.”

In American romantic comedies, it seems that the life purpose of the protagonist is to find that perfect someone to complete your incompleteness. Well, co-dependency is not sexy in Delpy’s film. While she acknowledges the power and joy that comes with being in a relationship, the film really shows life as a delicate balance of finding yourself in a world trying to pull you in all directions. A great husband or wife, the film shows, is someone who can help you in that quest; that a significant other is most certainly not the finish line of that quest. This film is a mega fuck you to the desperate-seeming, Meg Ryan, American romantic comedies that make regular people feel like shit when they can’t walk off into the sunset with their “soul mate.” Thanks Julie Delpy, you’re my fucking hero.