Julie Delpy

Spotlight By: Andrea Tuccillo
AndreaTuccillo@TheCinemaSource.com

'There's three subject matters in France'sex, food, and politics.' Julie Delpy tells it like it is. The multi-talented actress/director/screenwriter brings a similar sense of frankness to her new film, 2 Days in Paris, a quirky story about a French woman and an American man who try to rekindle their romance with a trip to Paris.

The dialogue-heavy film sounds like it contains similar elements from her 2004 film Before Sunset starring her and Ethan Hawke as two lovers who encounter each other in France, but Delpy explains their differences. 'It was a very different storyline,' she says. 'Even though it's set in Paris with a French/American couple it's such a different film because one is about two people reuniting. You could have set it in Brussels, Germany. It didn't matter, there's no interaction with their environment in Before Sunset. In this one it's all about the environment and the parents and the ex-boyfriends and the friends and Paris and the cabdrivers. So it's kind of the opposite story.'

Delpy wrote, directed, and stars in the film and she also cast old friend Adam Goldberg to play her culture-shocked American boyfriend. What most people don't know is that Goldberg and Delpy actually have a romantic past. 'I know him so well I was able to give him a part'I've known him for 12 years. [We had] a short thing 10, 12 years ago but this film is not based on that at all. How it affected the work' I would say most of the time it didn't. Sometimes maybe it's a little harder to be directed by an ex-girlfriend than it is by a regular person.'

Delpy wasn't afraid to cast her ex-boyfriend, and she's also not afraid to point out the differences between Americans and the French'especially when it comes to views on sex. 'I have a lot of American friends who I believe are not that puritan but there is a little element that is still puritan in them,' she says. 'So even the most liberated Americans that I know are a bit more uptight than the French.'

So what about the rumors that French men are all talk and no good in bed' 'I don't think there's a rule on who's good or bad in bed depending on the country,' she says bluntly. 'I've had good lovers in America, good lovers in France. Bad lovers in France, bad lovers in America. So it has nothing to do with that but it is true that French people will talk about it much more than anyone else I think. Even the hardcore Catholics in my family, they talk about sex all the time!'

Delpy notes that Americans also seem to be uptight when it comes to certain political issues as well. 'Our politicians are renowned womanizers and it's ok,' she says. 'It wouldn't be accepted here. I think the liberal Americans probably would accept it in a way but it's part of the country that's so rooted in religion and that having sex with another woman is worse than destroying another country'but I won't get into that! It's so weird to the French. I'm not saying the French are perfect; they have a lot of flaws and you can see it in the film, but I think I do like France on that level, that sex is not taken as something bad. It's bad to cheat on your wife but it's not horrible. I'm sorry to say! I mean, you don't kill, you don't hurt. It's bad, but it's bad on a personal level. It doesn't hurt the world.'

She believes open political discussions can be beneficial to young people in society. 'In my family people disagree politically and they always fight,' she says. 'Family dinner would always be talking about politics'people fighting, throwing things at each other. It would really get pretty violent but at the same time I think it's good to talk about those things because you know what's interesting' I think it's actually good for the kids to be hearing those arguments. I think it's healthy for children to hear people fighting on politics because then they can listen and they can decide for themselves. And I feel that by not talking about it you can end up with kids who are brainwashed one way or the other. In a way to hear those arguments and people formulating their own point of views allows the children to also formulate their own point of views on the subject matter.'

Possessing a true French sensibility Delpy talks about politics and sex with ease, something she made it a point to include in 2 Days in Paris. 'I felt the political stuff needed to have a more comedic tone,' she explains. 'Not less on the nose, but more like in the middle of conversation all the time. They don't talk about politics. The political stuff is always in a joke or in the middle of talking about sex. Talking about a blow job and'boom!'you go into a political statement.'

Delpy is adept at creating realistic dialogue between her characters. Her keen observations of American culture and the English language are prevalent in her scripts. 'When someone says something that I've never heard before and I think it's funny I right away notice it,' she says. 'I don't take note of it, but I take a mental note of it and then I use it a bunch of times at the wrong spot sometimes. And then eventually I learn it. It's always a learning process for me--the English language. I pick on it right away. I think, oh that's funny. Sometimes I think things are funny that are not funny.'

One thing's for certain, this outspoken filmmaker will keep doing what makes her happy. 'I love writing,' she says. 'I have so many stories I want to tell.'