Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie''s plot.
Broken English (2007),$16.99 Amazon.com, is a romantic comedy. In her first film, director Zoe Cassavetes tells the story of Nora Wilder (Posey.) Wilder is a Manhattanite who quietly toils away in the guest relations department of a boutique hotel. In contrast to her job dedication, Nora’s dating life is – unfortunately – sheer disaster.
Realistically, the film begins at a swank fifth anniversary gathering – for Mark (Guinee) and Audrey Andrews (de Matteo) – where the crowd is adorable and the wine is flowing rather freely. Nora is Audrey’s closest girlfriend, was previously friends with Mark, and was also responsible for introducing the couple to each other.
Outwardly, everything appears to be fine with the Andrews marriage, but Cassavetes is smart enough to introduce tension in periodic little flashes. At the anniversary party Mark’s father loudly goads him about not having children yet, and Nora’s mother Vivian Wilder-Mann (Rowlands) needles her daughter about not having married Mark earlier.
Kookiness ensues when Nick Gable (Theroux) – an actor and hotel guest – pressures Nora into a date. There’s also a funny scene where Audrey and Nora are practicing yoga in Audrey’s apartment. Later that night, Nora gets sloshed on sake at the Japanese restaurant and throws herself at the Mohawk-topped movie star.
Emotionally, Cassavetes understands how to layer a film. In one scene at her parent’s home, Nora brags that she’s dating again. Later at Audrey’s apartment, the girlfriends are sipping beer on the couch and watching television when Nick Gable appears on Spotlight Celebrity and reveals he’s been dating his younger co-star.
Needless to say, this depresses Nora. About twenty minutes in, a pallid Posey and a maternal Rowlands share a great mother-daughter scene in a restaurant that is central to the storyline. Funnily, the heartfelt advice delivered by Vivian leads to a hilariously bad blind date between Nora and Charlie Ross (Hamilton.)
Eventually Nora’s luck turns when she attends a July 4th party thrown by co-worker Glen (Panes) after refusing to go to Miami with Audrey and Mark. Nora feigns exhaustion and attempts leaving the party after a short time, but a suave Frenchman named Julien (Poupad) convinces her to stay for one drink.
Nora and Julien hit it off and leave the party. After Julien tries to kiss her in the elevator, a skittish Nora tries to back away. After some cajoling, Julien convinces Nora to come with him to a hole-in-the-wall bar where they do shots of tequila and dance to lively music.
Getting up next morning, Nora is surprised to find the enthusiastic Julien coming out of her kitchen – cup of hot coffee in hand. She was under the mistaken impression he’d left her apartment with her joint-smoking friend Bobbi (Fazio), whom they’d run into at an all-night bodega after leaving the bar.
Lest you think Broken English is merely a love story, Cassavetes jars her audience by having Nora respond to her newfound intimacy with a severe panic attack. This happens in a cafe, when Nora is unexpectedly approached from behind by an old friend named Guy (Kelly), while she’s kissing with Julien.
In reaction to Nora’s dreadful anxiety attack, Julien temporarily abandons Nora at her apartment. He returns a half day later, only to tell Nora that he is returning to Paris the very next day. It turns out he was only in NYC to work as a sound man on a film.
She takes Julien’s departure badly, abruptly quitting her job. Two thirds of the way through, the action then shifts to Paris, where Audrey lands in a married man’s bed, and a nearly drunk Nora sulks in her hotel room after she loses Julien’s cell phone number and any obvious chance of reconnecting.
HDNet Films is to be lauded for supporting this movie about expectations vs. reality. I enjoyed the thoughtful DVD extras; a half hour episode of Higher Definition, a documentary called The Making of Broken English, and sixteen minutes of deleted scenes. The disc lacks a French language track or subtitles – my sole disappointment.
Nora Wilder, a thirty-something Manhattanite plugging away at her job in a posh downtown hotel, can t help but wonder what it is she has to do to find...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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