Jamie passion and passionfruit!

Cedric Klapisch has brought us films about the European  young before, notably The Auberge Espagnole, which took a look at a Europudding flatshare in Barcelona.  He takes his favourite actor Romain Duris, in this film which revisits some of the same characters five years on.  The hero is now a struggling writer in Paris with a string of failed romances and acting as babysitter for his ex-girlfriend Audrey Tautou. Work hooks him up with the ghastly ex-flatmate Wendy in London as they do the English version of a film about romance and the scenes they write there are reflected in their own romance and that of those around them. Then there is his interview with a supermodel which inevitably leads to bed as well – poor boy, his main therapy is horizontal and it ends up all getting very complicated. It`s all a case of stories within stories a la Russian dolls.  The movie finishes up in St Petersburg (thus bringing Russia in apart from the dolls) with Wendy’s brother getting married to a Russian.  He is almost the most bearable of all the characters, having been the drunk in the first film. Played by Kevin Bishop, his scenes are great.

Overall then: a pleasant enough film with a few interesting reflections to keep one amused.  A version about very five years is about enough as these characters are mostly not very endearing.

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