Chinese Puzzle (Casse-tete chinos).

This Woody Allen style romantic comedy about Parisians in New York forms the final part of a trilogy written and directed by Cedric Klapisch. The first was 2002’s The Spanish Apartment, the second The Russian Doll in 2005 and now we have the concluding part. Chinese Puzzle (2013) features the same main characters and actors, Xavier (Romain Duris, more Heartbreaker (2010) than 2005’s The Beat That My Heart Skipped), Martine (Audrey Tautou), Wendy (Kelly Reilly) and Isabelle (Cecile de France).

 

Moving New York style.

Not quite the luxury apartment!

Xavier, a forty something novelist, is now divorced from his wife Wendy and see’s his two children on pre-arranged visits. But when his ex announces that she intends moving the family from Paris to New York City he decides to move to be near his children. Moving into the flat of his old friend Isabelle and her girlfriend Ju he agrees to help the couple have a child. Two’s company and three’s a crowd so Ju helps him find him a flat in China Town where the rents are cheaper than Brooklyn or Manhattan. He gets a job as a bike messenger, participates in a marriage of convenience to allow him to work legally in America and settles to his new life, that is until his ex-lover and her two children arrive in New York.

 

The family gets bigger.

The women in Xavier life.  

Not having seen the first two movies did not spoil my enjoyment of this French comedy.  A clever and polished lightweight fantasy, with a heavyweight cast list, that’s both funny and entertaining.

The Big Picture.

Ramain Duris. 

French actor Romain Duris’s breakthrough part came in 2005 in the Jacques Audiard (Read My Lips 2001, A Prophet 2009) directed film The Beat That My Heart Skipped. He played Thomas Seyr the son of a violent slum landlord who is torn between his father’s brutal criminal underworld and his own secret desire to be a concert pianist. It won a Cesar for his acting ability and a BAFTA for Best Film not in the English Language.  My following encounter’s with the French superstar was firstly Dans Paris (2006), where Duris played one of two brothers both living with their divorced father and their attempt to help each other to straighten their lives out. In the 2007 period drama Moliere he played the famous playwright. He further proved his versatility appearing opposite the lovely Vanessa Paradis in the romantic comedy Heartbreaker which went on to become the highest grossing French film of 2010. Which brings us quite nicely to his latest movie, The Big Picture (2010) in which he portrays a highflying big city lawyer who goes on the run after a dramatic accident.

The French title is L’Homme Qui Voulait Sa Vie which literally translated means ‘the man who wanted to live his life’ which is more of an adept description than the title used outside of France. This psychological thriller is directed by Eric Lartigau and was adapted by Douglas Kennedy from his own novel published in 1997. The films narrative covers the themes of identity and the idea of life being elsewhere and the fact that a person’s life can change in an instant making it’s course completely different. It’s a movie of two distinct parts; the first is about a successful lawyer with a beautiful home, an attractive wife and two young children. The second part starts when due to a dramatic chain of events our lead character chooses to take on another identity, journeys to Montenegro and becomes a photographer, something he always harboured a secret ambition to do.

Ideally cast as the lawyer Paul Exben, Romain Duris completely absorbs the part, can act with his eyes and completely change’s his demeanour as the circumstances of his character’s life change. The casting offers Duris some great support; Catherine Deneuve is the head of the law firm that Exben is a partner in. The classic French actor Niels Arestrup, who plays Duris father in The Beat That My Heart Skipped, is Bartholome the heavy drinking ex-pat living and working in Montenegro. The directors partner Marina Fois portrays Exben’s wife.

Quite cleverly this voyage of discovery allows the viewer to direct their sympathy towards Paul and not his wife, something I found quite refreshing. Although the plot is a little contrived I found the film quite enthralling, mainly due to Romain Duris compelling performance.

Heartbreaker

Some things are better in French; if Heartbreaker (2010) had been an American romantic comedy (something I suspect will happen) then I would have not been tempted to watch it. LoveFilm is great, you can try films you would not normally bother with and believe it or not I quite enjoyed it. Set in Monaco for most of the film, and coupled with Vanessa Paradis smile, makes this a pleasure to look at. Daft plot, but never mind, Alex Lippi, his sister and her husband are hired to convince women to end unhappy relationships. They are commissioned by a rich businessman to persuade his daughter (Paradis) to break up with her fiancé; I said it was a daft plot! Romain Duris, better known for more serious roles in films such as The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) and Moliere (2007), plays Alex Lippe and Julie Ferrier and Francois Damiens star as Lippe’s sister and brother-in-law. Yes ok it was funny in a silly sort of way and yes it made a change!