Juliette Binoche and Jean Reno play strangers who meet in an airport (via cell phone) when their flights are canceled because of a strike in Daniele Thompson's romantic French comedy JET LAG. Binoche is Rose, a woman obsessed with makeup and style, who is seemingly shallow and selfish. Reno, taking a break from playing action heroes in American films (GODZILLA, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE), is Felix, a lonely former chef who is now a frozen-food king. Rose is seeking a new life in Mexico, far from her abusive former lover, Sergio (Sergi Lopez), while Felix is heading to Munich to recapture something he has lost. Both have dysfunctional relationships with their parents--Rose with her mother, Felix with his father. As they are stuck in Charles de Gaulle Airport and later in an airport hotel, truths come out that force them to face their uncertain futures. Elisabeth Tavernier's costume design for Rose is a riot; Binoche wears lots of makeup and very bright red and blue outfits. Reno, in contrast, plays his character with a quiet, sad solemnity. Interestingly, Thompson began her career writing screenplays with her father, actor-writer-director Gerard Oury, and she cowrote JET LAG with her son, Christopher.
Theatrical Release: June 13, 2003 (NY/LA)
Distributor Notes: Jet Lag
Oscar(R) winner Juliette Binoche (Best Supporting Actress, THE ENGLISH PATIENT, 1996; CHOCOLAT) and Jean Reno (RONIN, THE PROFESSIONAL) soar together in a wonderfully fun and sexy comedy where opposites don't just attract, they collide! Pampered beauty queen Rose (Binoche) and over-stressed insomniac Felix (Reno) have only one thing in common: They're through with bad relationships and have both sworn off the opposite sex. So when an airline strike grounds these total strangers together in Paris -- and they're forced to share the last available hotel room in town -- neither can wait to leave the other behind. But the more they try to go their separate ways, the more obvious it becomes that there's no place else they'd rather be!
Source: Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
Director of Photography
Patrick Blossier:
Review 1:
"...Binoche has always been a dazzling camera subject, but in JET LAG she's so lovely she's heartbreaking..."
Source: Entertainment Weekly
p.55 06/20/2003
Review 2:
"...The chemistry between the stars sizzles..."
Source: Movieline's Hollywood Life
p.114-15 07/01/2003