The realization struck me hard about halfway through Broken English: Parker Posey isn't Party Girl anymore. She hasn't been Party Girl for years, of course, and the roles she's taken have evolved steadily from neurotic 20-somethings to neurotic 30-somethings. But in Broken English, I saw for the first time that Posey and her characters are adults now — a little less hopeful, a little more world-weary, a lot more afraid of the idea that this could be the best life gets.
Posey plays Nora Wilder, a chronically single 30-something who once dreamed of an art career but ended up as the guest relations director at a boutique hotel. In the name of "putting herself out there," she launches into a series of bad dates — one with a famous actor who later tells a Hollywood news program he's dating his costar; another with a sad sack of a man who can't get over his ex. Then, at an almost laughably bad party thrown by a coworker, Nora meets Julien (Melvil Poupaud), who's sweet, attentive, romantic — and about to return to Paris. Julien encourages Nora to run away to Paris with him, and she's too practical (or too self-sabotaging, or too scared) to go. But at the urging of a friend, she ultimately takes off for the romantic city, in search of a fantasy of love. That's just the skeleton, so to hear more of what I thought, read more
