Although 2 Days in New
York is a sequel to Julie Delpy’s earlier film, 2 Days in Paris, the director wastes no time establishing that no
one needs to have seen the previous instalment to get what is going on in the
current one. Within the first few minutes she establishes that her character, Marion,
has separated from her husband Jack (played by Adam Goldberg in 2 Days In Paris, but absent here), is
now dating Mingus (Chris Rock), a writer and radio presenter with an Obama fixation,
and that they live together in a spacious New York apartment, caring for
children from their previous relationships.
Much of the humour in 2
Days in New York comes, as in the case of its predecessor, from the culture
clash that emerges when Marion’s ‘60s radical father and reformed nymphomaniac
sister meet the man in her life. They do occasionally come into contact with
other characters – such as the aforementioned, and funny, moment when Jeannot
is forced to strip at the airport to reveal various kinds of sausage strapped
to his body – but for the most part, interaction is between the main
characters, and the action is largely confined to Marion and Mingus’ apartment.
The tension nicely builds over the course of film as the misunderstandings,
playful mockery and underlying resentments of family life bubble up and explode
into conflict, conflict made even worse by the fact that all the characters are
trapped within the same space. Though there are a handful of big comic set-pieces,
much of the humour comes from the astute observations of the script, which is
by Delpy, Landeau and Nahon. That bedrock grounds the film during its more
outlandish moments, such as Marion’s efforts to auction off her soul as part of
an art exhibition (which plays out like a classic Simpsons episode and features a truly bizarre and delightful cameo
that I won’t spoil here).
The performers all manage to nail the Woody Allen-esque
mixture of neuroses, keenly observed observations and flights of inspired
silliness that defines the film. Delpy and Rock are particularly great together
as a couple clearly in love with each other, but who don’t seem to have faced
any major obstacles up to this point. Their exasperation – with the family and with
each other – feels real and adds heft to the gags without weighing them down,
yet there is also a tenderness between them that feels comfortable and lived
in. There is a connection between the characters that is believable amidst the
farce.
The idea of connection forms a major emotional throughline
for the film, which stresses the importance of family whilst showing how it can
drive people crazy. In between 2 Days in
Paris and 2 Days in New York,
Delpy’s mother Marie Pillet, who also played Marion’s mother in the first film,
died, and her absence is keenly felt. One of the reasons why Jeannot is coming
to visit is so that he can see his grandson, but it’s also so that Marion can
see how her father is coping with the death of his wife. Delpy also examines
what effect the death has on the two sisters, and the way in which their
relationship remains unaltered, because they still bicker and fight, whilst at
the same time being fundamentally different, because there is now a gaping hole
in their lives where there used to be person.
In a moment which is startlingly moving, Delpy addresses the
idea of family head on, specifically the idea that each person is born into a
family, but eventually has to construct their own to avoid being alone. It reminded
me of a line in Michael Chabon’s Wonder
Boys, in which a character says that families are meant to get bigger, not
smaller, and that simple, honest realisation has a strong emotional punch to
it, even amongst the ribald comedy. Even though 2 Days in New York sometimes feels messy and unfocused as it tries
to keep all of its disparate elements in play, it ultimately reaches a point of
narrative and emotional catharsis that largely makes up for the occasional
sloppiness of the journey.