Paris may be known as the city of lovers and romance, but in Julie Delpy's second directorial outing it's turned into a place of heartache and recrimination. This acerbic comedy of errors follows a New York couple Marion (Delpy) and Jack (Adam Goldberg) as they stop off in Paris to visit Marion's parents (played by the director's real-life mother and father, Marie Pillet and Albert Delpy) while in transit from Venice. Pretty soon Parisian life is taking its toll, as racist cabbies, undersized French condoms and Marion's seemingly endless parade of ex-lovers drive their relationship onto the rocks. Shot on a limited budget, the joy of Delpy's film lies in the smart, occasionally offbeat dialogue that turns this into a caustic riposte to the Delpy/Ethan Hawke romances Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. Delpy's parents are wonderful as a lovable pair of bohemian French anarchists, while the two leads manage to hold the slight story together and invest it with surprising poignancy.

Marion and Jack try to rekindle their relationship with a visit to Paris, home of Marion's parents — and several of her ex-boyfriends.