The threequel to 'Pot Luck' and 'Russian Dolls', 'Chinese Puzzle' picks up the story of French writer Xavier (Romain Duris, engaging as ever). He's now married to Briton Wendy (Kelly Reilly), with whom he has two children. His Belgian lesbian chum Isabelle (Cécile De France) is obsessing about having children and Xavier agrees, against Wendy's wishes, to provide the sperm with which Isabelle will be artificially inseminated (who said romance was dead?) Meanwhile, Wendy meets an American and sets up home with him in New York, taking her and Xavier's children with her. Distraught at losing contact with the children, Xavier relocates to New York himself. But will he ever find lasting love?
There are many things casually presented as acceptable here which some may take issue with (eg the self-indulgent, artificial creation of children in a time of over-population; visa-convenient marriages). But this film is so feel-good that even a grouch like me sat grinning - or laughing out loud - for much of it. Returning players Duris, De France and Audrey Tautou slip on their former roles with ease; Reilly's acting I found a bit too soap operaish. Of the new characters, Jason Kravits, as Duris' sleazy lawyer, does a fine comic turn. The film is pure entertainment - in fact, if it weren't for Xavier and Wendy's annoyingly precocious, wise-beyond-his-years son, it would be near perfect. But this is still another splendid chapter in Cédric Klapisch's romcom saga.
There are many things casually presented as acceptable here which some may take issue with (eg the self-indulgent, artificial creation of children in a time of over-population; visa-convenient marriages). But this film is so feel-good that even a grouch like me sat grinning - or laughing out loud - for much of it. Returning players Duris, De France and Audrey Tautou slip on their former roles with ease; Reilly's acting I found a bit too soap operaish. Of the new characters, Jason Kravits, as Duris' sleazy lawyer, does a fine comic turn. The film is pure entertainment - in fact, if it weren't for Xavier and Wendy's annoyingly precocious, wise-beyond-his-years son, it would be near perfect. But this is still another splendid chapter in Cédric Klapisch's romcom saga.