Broken English

Broken English

Directed by: Zoe R. Cassavetes

Starring: Parker Posey

Genre: Comedy/Drama/ Romance/Independent

Run Time: 93 min.

Release Date: June 2007

On The Web: Official Site

Teaser: Movie Trailer

Reviewed by Byron Merritt

Women nowadays don’t feel the need to connect with men on a marital plain. And that is pretty much how Nora Wilder (Parker Posey, FAY GRIM) feels her life turning out.

Bad date after bad date, Nora leaps headlong upon every man she meets or is set up with (including one horrible blind date arranged by her mother, played by the estimable Gena Rowlands).

From meeting movie stars to momma’s boys, Nora is sure she’ll spend the rest of her life withering away, loveless and alone. Even her job at an upscale hotel seems headed toward nowheresville. But then she happens upon Julien (Melvil Poupaud), a visiting Frenchman with no reservations about relationships. Their dating rapidly escalates but each holds back their love for fear of losing themselves to the opposite sex.

Funny moments occur as Julien’s poor English enunciation turns mundane subjects into firecracker discussions. Nora’s stress of dating someone she might actually grow to care about leads her to alcohol and her medicine cabinet, needing something to salve her anxiety about how much she’s beginning to care for Julien.

When Julien finally tells Nora that he has to go back to Paris, it is a hammer’s blow to Nora’s life. Julien begs her to come with him, but Nora has friends, family, and a job to worry about. So Julien leaves and gives her his phone number “just in case...”

“Just in case” happens, as Nora flies with a friend to Paris and quickly learns that she’s lost Julien’s phone number. Unable to locate him (“His name is like John Smith in America”), she decides to simply enjoy herself while on vacation and scurries about Paris. But when it comes time to leave, she can’t. She realizes that she’s been staying in Paris only to see Julien again. She remains for a while longer but finally, regretfully, decides to return to the U.S. On her trip to the Paris airport, however, she discovers she’s riding the train with Julien, and the two reconnect via happenstance and serendipity.

Although smaltzy and awkward in many places, BROKEN ENGLISH has that quirky feel to it that makes many of its failings watchable. Parker Posey gives a powerful emotional performance as a woman in conflict with the times and her need to connect with someone meaningful. French actor Melvil Poupaud is handsome, a bit gruff, and just as strange as Parker Posey’s character, which makes them play off each other exceptionally well.

The pacing of the film is exceptionally slow, however, especially the first five minutes in which all we do is watch Parker Posey put on make-up and look in the mirror five-hundred times; something you should be prepared for. The pacing does pick up in places, but it can get tiresome watching the mundane for just as many minutes later on.