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Joy
is a bulimic, drug-addicted supermodel who is escaping
from the rehab center where her fellow models dropped
her off. Jude is the drug-abusing lead singer for a
famous rock band whose members leave him lying drunk
on the ground outside of the same rehab clinic. Upon
breaking out of the center, Joy encounters Jude, and
helps drag him back to her Parisian apartment. There,
away from the ever-prying eyes of the public, they try
to kick their respective habits while realizing that,
while they are famous, no one really knows them; that
they are, in a sense, invisible. They spend the next
several days together sorting out their fame, desires,
dreams, and fears.
While
this may sound like a typical two-person dialogue-based
movie, director Noah Stern has done a good job making
it both creative and different. One of the things that
makes this film unique is who Joy and Jude are. As a
supermodel and rock singer, they are living the lives
that millions of men and women only dream about; but
for them, it's empty. They have a strange vulnerability
with one another because of their similar problems;
they're both junkies and they know it, so they don't
have to put up any pretenses about who they really are.
This openness gives them the ability to be completely
forthright and cut through all of the crap and fake
images they have bought into. However, such vulnerability
means that Joy and Jude each have to face up to those
things they fear and have been running from the most:
themselves.
Joy
is terrified of being alone and unloved. She only feels
accepted because of who she is, and knows that as soon
as someone skinnier or prettier comes along, she'll
be forgotten. This is what drives her addictions. Jude
experienced great acclaim with his first album and mediocre
success with his second. He wonders if it is possible
to have a truly successful "follow up" in
the art of music and regain the fame he once had. Like
Joy, he knows that his "famous" position is
tenuous and will be lost as soon as someone more talented
comes along.
The
precarious celebrity that drives their addictions and
the willing vulnerability Joy and Jude share make for
some very cathartic and thought-provoking scenes, especially
two in particular. First, Jude comes across a crumpled-up
admission form to the rehab clinic and decides to ask
Joy to fill it in with him, just for kicks. (He cynically
jests at the process as a game which he calls, "Madlibs
for Junkies.") One of the questions on the form
is "Why do you think you abuse addictive substances?"
Joy gives an initial pat answer, but Jude presses her.
Finally, she bursts out, "I'm a blood-drained,
piece-of-meat, bulimic poster girl for fun and fashion…
I don't eat. I don't sleep. I don't sh--. But that's
okay. As long I can stick a needle between my toes…
And I don't think anyone would give me so much as a
flying f--- if it wasn't for who I was. Am. Whatever."
Finally spent, she collapses in a chair and sobs, "You
know, this is worse than rehab. This is hell."
Meanwhile Jude, afraid that his addiction will one day
kill him although he is unable to stop, points out that
some of the most famous and talented musicians have
fallen victim to drugs. When Joy flippantly tells him
to try to name ten, he ticks off a list that includes
Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Mama Cass Elliot, and John
Lennon. To hear his strangely logical reasoning is to
more completely understand his strangely tormented personality,
as well as to make one think about the points he brings
up.
As
they survive on pizza delivery, their topics of discussion
range from quirky (how Babar the Elephant had it together),
to personal (what other musicians/supermodels have you
slept with?), to analytical (the quality of music has
gone downhill). Over the following days, Jude and Joy
experience their own "rehab" more liberating
than any clinic program; they finally stop avoiding
their fears and illusions and face them. In doing so,
they find freedom to follow their true paths in life.
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