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New Yorkers know that living in the city comes with a certain amount of unavoidable noise. The construction, shouting, car horns, and bumping bass are obnoxious but relatively small concessions we make to live in the greatest city in the world. But it’s when that noise starts to creep into the home that things become an issue.

When clamor and commotion leak into our living spaces, New Yorkers become even more acutely aware of how much money we’re doling out for rent each month—and don’t even get me started on the fact that you have to take out a small loan just to afford to eat a bowl of cereal. We remember all the subway delays, price hikes, and droplets of sweat that have fallen down our bodies just to get from one place to the next. Our modest apartments have to be the one place where we can forget about all of New York’s worst parts, and that’s a near-impossible task when someone else’s noise makes it impossible to relax.



That dreadful anxiety is drolly recreated in writer-director Rachel Wolther’s debut feature The French Italian , which had its world premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. When Upper West Side yuppie couple Valerie (Cat Cohen) and Doug (Aristotle Athari) find their peace and quiet disturbed by their downstairs neighbor’s new girlfriend, Mary ( Chloe Cherry ), they’re curious about the situation. They’ve barely even seen Mary’s boyfriend, let alone heard him.

But once Mary moves in, glass bongs go flying, backyard argumen.

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