Le Divorce/Just Married (2003)

LE DIVORCE: LE DIVORCE, based on the novel by Diane Johnson, is a contemporary Merchant/Ivory production that explores the fundamental differences between Americans and the French, especially in matters of the heart and manners. Isabel (Kate Hudson) is a brash, outspoken Californian who travels to Paris to help her pregnant expatriot sister Roxeanne (Naomi Watts). Once there she finds that Roxeanne's cheating husband (Melvil Poupaud) has abandoned her for his sexy mistress. Determined to help Roxeanne, Isabel settles in and quickly succumbs to the charms of Paris, including its men. She embarks on her own affair with Edgar (Thierry Lhermitte), the married brother of Suzanne de Persand (Leslie Caron), Roxeanne's bourgeois mother-in-law, and falls into the stereotypical life of a French mistress, receiving expensive Hermés gifts, and undergoing a chic cultural makeover. However, Suzanne quickly learns of the affair and is enraged, claiming that Americans don't know how to have proper, temporary affairs. Upon the arrival of Isabel and Roxeanne's typically American parents (Stockard Channing and Sam Waterson), the cultural divide becomes deeper as the two families battle it out over love, marriage, infidelity, fortune and ultimately: divorce.JUST MARRIED: Juggling slapstick comedy with witty dialogue and youthful romance, JUST MARRIED provides an entertaining and optimistic glimpse at young relationships and the struggle to stay in love in a world where everything goes wrong. A chance encounter on a beach brings Tom (Ashton Kutcher, DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR?) and Sarah (Brittany Murphy, 8 MILE) into each other's lives. They quickly fall in love and agree to get married. Although Sarah's wealthy family does not approve of their daughter's fiancé, Tom and Sarah believe they can sustain themselves on love, and so they take the matrimonial plunge. As soon as they are married, however, things start to unravel--first in their newlywed suite, next on the airplane to their honeymoon in Italy, then in the five-star Hotel Du Rêve in France. Pretty soon the couple is living out a hellish version of Murphy's Law, and divorce begins to look hilariously ominous. When Sarah's old flame shows up at their hotel in Venice to cause further trouble, Tom responds with a jealous outburst that lands the newlyweds in jail. Tom and Sarah survive their misadventures long enough to face the ultimate test of their marriage vows, when each reveals a secret that threatens to spoil their relationship entirely.