Nora (Parker Posey) is a thirtyish single woman who works at a posh hotel as a public relations chief. She is very lonely and desperate to find someone to love and marry. This goal colors all of her days, leaving her depressed about her inability to find a mate. It doesn't help when her mother (Gena Rowlands) notes that "the good ones got snapped up." At her best friend Audrey's (Drea de Matteo) fifth wedding anniversary, Nora laments her single status. She introduced Audrey to her husband, a point that her mother hammers home trying to induced some guilt in her daughter.
In the course of her work at the hotel, she meets Nick Gable (Justin Theroux), a rising actor and celebrity who takes a fancy to her. On a date with him, she gets drunk and then has sex with him. Nick says how special she is, and yet later on a TV show, he announces that he is madly in love with the actress he's working with on the movie. Nora is shattered. Her mother then sets her up with Charlie (Josh Hamilton), the son of a friend, who takes her to a movie, then cuts the evening short after meeting his ex.
More convinced than ever that she is a loser in love who just doesn’t know how to relate to men, Nora reluctantly attends a party of a co-worker (Michael Panes). She is romanced by Julien (Melvil Poupaud), a carefree young Frenchman. But Nora is not in the mood for sex or for being the new object of his affection. But it turns out he is genuine in his feelings for her. This sends her into a tizzy and an anxiety attack brings on a deep depresssion.
Julien patiently stands by her until it is time for him to return to Paris. He suggests that she accompany him for a madcap fling but she can't muster the energy. In a funk, Nora quits her job and decides to go to Paris with Audrey. But she loses the paper with Julien's phone number and descends into despair. Can she find him in such a large city? Will the magic she seeks work a miracle for her? Will she listen seriously to the advice of a wise man she meets?
Zoe Cassavetes, the daughter of Gena Rowlands and the late John Cassavetes, wrote and directed this romantic drama, which explores in a rich and rounded way the excruciating challenges of loneliness. In all of her interactions with men, Nora tries too hard and mucks things up. In Paris she begins to go with the flow and to let things happen in their own time. Broken English makes the point described by Brenda Shoshanna in Zen and the Art of Falling in Love: " The only real loneliness comes from abandoning ourselves, from not being who we are. Then we turn to another to fill us. When we operate in this fashion, no matter how many people are in our world, we feel abandoned and alone." Nora's loneliness becomes a spiritual teacher for her and she comes to see herself and her world with fresh eyes.
