I went in with a strong suspicion that I wouldn't like it (you know how picky I am about movies - sometimes I find it best to go in with a few preconceived notions so if it's really bad, I'm not too disappointed, and if it's really good, I'm pleasantly surprised). When the movie opened and Julie Delpy and Adam Goldberg started playing out their relationship, my suspicions grew.
I put down the coconut sorbet and looked at my blinking phone. "Is anyone else seeing Woody and Mia here, or is it just me? Who can I call?" Visions of crashing and burning blurred my vision.
But I liked it. Like Mikey liked Life (speaking of a mouthful).
Although sometimes the conversation seemed a little forced-dramatic (especially during the *sex* scenes - which, let's face it, could have been drawn from Annie Hall), I found the dynamics between them to be genuine. Their relationship was portrayed tenderly - even at their worst moments, when the pain was greatest, the camera still captured them compassionately. As in the last conversation, when Julie Delpy says, "And then Jack said something that hurt my feelings." She doesn't have to tell you what was said because it doesn't matter.
What matters is that sometimes, people in love will inevitably - and not necessarily on purpose - hurt each other's feelings.
Delpy didn't try to paint either character as all-bad or all-good. She didn't want you to take sides. Both were flawed, both made mistakes, but no fingers were pointed, no generalizations made about gender. If anything, I was relieved that for once it was the woman who found herself telling lies to protect her relationship.
It's a movie about how hard it is to have a working relationship. About how much effort it takes to keep it all afloat. And I could appreciate that.
Hopefully, what the movie says about Parisian taxi drivers is not true. Brrr!
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