Julie Delpy writes, directs and stars in this story of a couple's brief stop-off in the French capital on their way back to New York but it's Adam Goldberg's show through and through. Delpy's achievements are behind the camera and what transpires through the snappy script is a keen study of long-term relationships under the guise of a neurotic comedy.

The direction is wonderfully free and the characters drawn with enough humanity to make their nuances real. Delpy's loving dissection of her own culture is flamboyant without being indulgent and though her American citizen companion may be type-cast (see Woody Allen, Larry David) Goldberg manages to ice the cake in his own way by bringing an integrity to compliment the vulnerability we rarely see in the range of today's leading men (more of this actor, please).

Veteran actors who blossom into directors often bring a wealth of understanding about the mediation required between the style of a piece and the substance and Delpy's work here is an absolute testament to that.

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