Vive les femmes! Julie Delpy is a prolific French-American actress, screenwriter, director which I loved seeing in the film 2 Days in Paris (2007) among her other 30 films. She brings a fresh and natural charm with lots of personality to the screen which is refreshing in Hollywood. She portrays marvelously the French-American identity while still remaining very French in her films and oh la la! that accent that lingers is delightful. She embraces her womanhood, knows what she wants and what she likes and doesn’t like, and is not afraid to ruffle a few feathers with her straightforward manner and honest delivery. “A lot of people expect women to have a certain limit to how polite they can be. It seems it’s more the domain of men to say things that are really outrageous. So, for me, it’s very freeing as a woman to not even be politically correct about feminism. Obviously, I’m for women’s rights and I’m very feminist, but I’m beyond feminism.” said Julie in an interview.

In Julie Delpy’s latest creation On the Verge (2021) which she wrote, starred in, and produced, I loved the whole series dynamics and how she weaved in her French roots, language, and savoir-vivre by portraying a slice of French life in L.A with her very French architect husband and her American-born son which, as is often the case, doesn’t speak fluent French but understands every word. Keeping the dialogue in French in her family nucleus in the episodes added an original element of authenticity, so very French with no pretense. Some situations that could have been clichés and stereotyped were surprisingly relatable and fresh, infused with a shot of dark realism and much humor. Also, the women came across as real down-to-earth characters untainted by LA’s superficial lifestyle. The whole cast with the male counterparts and the children work very well together.

In this series with the catchy title On the Verge, we meet four middle-aged women who are all on the verge of something in their personal and professional lives. These four women are friends who share motherhood as a common denominator, they are also strong women and fighters. Each of them is dealing with and wrapped up in their own intimate world, of course. Julie Delpy plays the French Chef, Justine, who owns Chez Juste restaurant in LA and is trying to write a cookbook while raising her son with Martin, her out of work architect husband, played by Mathieu Demy (son of filmmakers Jacques Demy and Agnès Varda), Elisabeth Shue plays Anne, the Bon Vivante heiress/designer/cool hippie chick mom of two with a younger husband, Alexia Landeau is Ell the ADD brave single mom to three kids from different daddies looking for a job and opportunities, and finally, Sarah Jones portrays Jasmin a Black Iranian Moslemwoman married to a caucasian guy with mixed son Orion leading a double life with a shady past. That was a mouthful!

These women are definitively each on the verge of something as you will find out through the 12 episodes and we’ll definitely need a second season to find out more. Will Justine walk away? Will Anne start fresh? Will Ell and her kids become YouTube internet sensations? And finally, will Jasmin make any revelations?