contemporary world cinema for salmon arm |
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Shall We Kiss? (Un baiser s'il vous plaît)
Country: France
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Following his charming film, Change of Address , writer-director Emmanuel Mouret also stars in his latest, Shall We Kiss?, a Woody Allen-esque version of a French romantic comedy. Gabriele (Michael Cohen) and Emilie (Julie Gayet) are strangers when they have a chance encounter in Nantes. An attraction forms when their eyes meet; they have dinner, and when Gabriel moves as if to kiss Emilie, she appears willing but then pulls back. She says that a single kiss, however innocently intended, can change your life, and sets about to prove her point by telling Michael a story, set in Paris, which takes up the rest of the film, with occasional cuts back to Emilie and Gabriel. It is about her longtime best friends Judith (Virginie Ledoyen) and Nicolas (Mouret).Nicolas confides in Judith that he lacks physical affection in his relationships with women, and after some discussion, he asks her if she herself would help him out. Out of friendship, she agrees. They politely remove their clothes to make even more polite love. Ensuing complications have a quiet inevitability, though spiced with the unexpected. Shall We Kiss? enters into a complex plot, involving deception, role-playing, Judith's husband, his new girlfriend and a twist. It also has grace, a languid charm, much elegance, and a soundtrack by Schubert and Tchaikovsky. "The plot, when it winds up and unwinds, is ingenious.” rogerebert.com |
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