Julie Delpy's sweet romantic comedy Two Days In Paris closed the Edinburgh Film Festival this year. Curio met up with the actress and director.

Two Days in Paris was a project that you directed, starred in, wrote music for. Is it closer to your heart than your other films?
It’s no closer to my heart than anything else I’ve written. It just seems very close to my personal life but it’s actually quite fictional.

So it’s not autobiographical?
No…there are similarities in that my character is French and living abroad, but it’s mostly fictional.

In Two Days In Paris one interesting aspect is your own character’s dismay at the hidden social ills behind the romantic façade of the city.Does this reflect your own personal feelings about present day France?
Yes. A lot of the time Paris is described as this beautiful, perfect city ,but people forget to mention that Le Pen had 20 percent of the votes until the last election- which is huge. People that voted for him might not be as extreme as him, but a lot of them are. Some of them are anti-semites and racists, and  it’s important that people know that France is like that. It’s also very wonderful: open-minded, liberal, sexually open – that’s the wonderful side of France. Growing up in Paris I was aware of both sides.

Duality plays a big part on lots of levels. It could be described as a bilingual film since a native French speaker might watch it differently from the way a British or American person might. Was that the idea?
Yes. I wanted to make a film that’s a bit of both, even in the culture and the humour. I live in LA so the humour is more American but some of the other elements are more French – like the ending. It’s really a bi-cultural film because that’s me. I feel mixed between the two continents.

Given some of your own characters comments on racial tolerance, has it been a controversial film in France in an election year?
It did upset a few people. I took out one line that the French distributors wanted me to take out. It was about Sarkozy. It upset me, but that’s the way it is. That’s the reality of the politics in France these days. It’s going to upset misogynistic men, hardcore right wing people, anti-semites and racists. But you know what? That’s fine with me. If those people don’t like my film, I have no problem with that. The critics' response was overall positive in America and France.

Which writers or directors do you respect or might have influenced you?
There’s many directors I love … I admire the Danish Filmmaker from the first half of the 20th Century, Carl Dreyer. And then I love Woody Allen, some Spielberg films, Ken Loach, Almodóvar- it goes in so many directions.

Your real parents play your character’s mum and dad in the film. What was it like working with them?
It was the best – I’d do it again in a minute!

You also have great onscreen chemistry with Adam Goldberg. Did you have him in mind when you wrote the script?
Yes, I wrote the part for him so I had him in mind while I was writing.

Related links 

Review: Two Days In Paris