Sunday, December 16, 2012

Broken English (2007)

"Broken English" is one of my favorite movies EVER.

It's funny.  Justin Theroux plays this Hollywood actor who checks into a hotel carrying his personal pillow.

It features New York City and Paris.

It's named after a Marianne Faithful song.

It's written and directed by Zoe Cassavetes, daughter of John Cassavetes, my favorite director, and Gena Rowlands who plays the protagonist's mother in the film.

The main character is named Nora Wilder (which I'm guessing is a nod to the great director Billy Wilder.)


The fashion is beautiful.  I wanted every outfit that Nora wore.

Nora also misses her father whom she was very close to. (This pulls on my heartstrings like crazy.) --I'm assuming Zoe might have based that on missing her dad--John Cassavetes died in 1989.

The plot involves Nora feeling lonely at a wedding anniversary for her best friend and going on some very bad dates.  Then Nora meets a French man, Julien at a co-worker's party and gives him a hard time because she is "through with men" at this point.   

She asks Julien, "Do you play guitar?" and when he answers no, she says, "Thank God."  This makes me laugh and laugh.  First of all because of all the guitar players I've crushed on in my life and also because Parker Posey used to date the guitar player/ singer songwriter Ryan Adams and I think this might be somewhat of a reference/ inside joke to that.

Julien is easy going but dating is so stressful that Nora soon has a panic attack and I love how it doesn't totally freak Julien out.

He has to go back to Paris and she later goes looking for him with her best friend Aubrey but has lost his address.  And then it becomes a story of Nora just spending time by herself and learning to appreciate her own company.

I think the ending is great as well.  Very hopeful. It leaves me smiling.

Jean Paul Clement (to Nora): Most people are together just so they are not alone. But some people want magic. I think you are one of those people.

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