Joe Berlin

Grew up… in New York. Although he currently lives abroad, Joe will always carry his New York accent wherever he goes.

Living… in Paris. Joe, a writer, has always had a romantic idea of the city of light. In his own words, “My idea is just to live in Paris and, y’know, fall in love and take walks in the rain and, uh, listen to music…”

Visiting… Venice, Italy, with his daughter DJ. While in Venice, Joe encounters the woman of his dreams: a tall, gorgeous American. Strangely, DJ claims to know all about the woman— her friend’s mother is this woman’s analyst back in New York, and nosey DJ often listens in on her psychoanalytic sessions.

Profession… writer. Joe writes “mostly novels,” as he says. Back in his youth, Joe couldn’t decide whether to be a writer or a psychoanalyst back – “so I compromised. I became a writer and a patient!”

Relationship Status… chasing the mysterious American woman in Venice. Joe feels a bit guilty— he’s using the privileged (and private) information gleaned from DJ’s snooping at her analyst’s office.

Challenge… finding the love of his life. As much as he denies it, Joe’s love for his ex-wife is obvious to everyone around him. Whether or not he’ll ever admit it to himself is another story. But she’s remarried, and he really needs to move on.

Personality… dramatic, nervous, and bumbling. Joe is prone to making grand, sweeping pronouncements on his inability to find love. As he says after his girlfriend Giselle leaves him for his best friend, “I’m gonna kill myself. I should go to Paris and jump off the Eiffel Tower. I’ll be dead. In fact, if I get the Concorde, I could be dead three hours earlier, which would be perfect.”