Saturday, July 20, 2013

Selling One's Soul to the Art World for Five Grand

by Drew Martin
Julie Delpy (pictured here, left) is best known in America for the Before movies with Ethan Hawke: Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight. I wonder if her sequel interest started when Krzysztof Kieślowski starred her in White of The Three Colors Trilogy two decades ago. Delpy wrote, directed, and starred in 2 Days in Paris, and 2 Days in New York. I watched the New York sequel last night, partly for her but mainly to see Chris Rock. Rock plays her boyfriend who endures a couple days' visit with her unbearable relatives and ex from France. Delpy's character is an artist who is trying to make a splash at the Susan Kellner Gallery where she has an opening that features pictures of her in bed with a range of men. Nothing sells until an earlier lie she tells that she is dying from a brain tumor spreads, and the entire show is compassionately bought. Before that happens Delpy sells her soul as a performance piece. She hopes it will go for at least $10,000 but Vincent Gallo is the highest bidder and gets it for $5,000. Delpy tries to get it back when she feels her life has come undone. In an off-screen moment she wrestles it from Gallo's groin (where he keeps it) but during their struggle he swallows it, and she returns soulless to a bewildered Rock.

Click here to watch a trailer for 2 Days in New York.
Click here to watch a young Delpy in 
Kieślowski's White.