Story: As celebrated concert pianist (Albert Dupontel) prepares for his latest opening, he contemplates quitting, though he fears his wife (Laura Morante) will leave him if he does. Next door at the auction house, a father (Claude Brasseur) is set to unload his art collection, much to the chagrin of his son (Christopher Thompson). Across the street, a famous soap actress (Valérie Lemercier) begins a run on the stage, while attempting to win the part of Simone de Beauvoir in Brian Sobinski's (Sydney Pollack) latest film. At the centre of all of this is a bar that has just hired its first waitress (Cécile de France).Or as we call it here: Avenue Montaigne.
What a charming little ensemble piece. De France brings everything and everyone together not through magic but through her natural openness and sweetness. The whole thing is a confection that comes together a little too well, but it's difficult to resist. It is to writer-director Danièle Thompson and her son/co-writer Christopher Thompson's credit that you feel like you know and care enough about each of the many characters to want to see the resolution of their stories. Young Thompson probably plays the most prickly character, and we still wanted him to find love. By the time Lemercier is pretty much breaking down in front of Pollack, you are doomed. There's a warmth in the way they each take the other in that extends to the audience, and who doesn't want a hug straight from Paris? B+
With less characters and a far more outlandish plot, Jeux d'enfants (Love Me If You Dare over here) is the more charming and wonderful of the pictures. As children, Julien and Sophie pass their dismal days sharing a carousel tin: whoever has the tin dares the other, and the other gets the tin when s/he completes the dare. It's a simple game and one that gets the two of them in a lot of trouble, but it is as bewitching as you can imagine. As they so often do in these sorts of stories, Julien (Guillaume Canet) and Sophie (Marion Cotillard) fall in love, but that only serves to complicate the game. Yet, no matter how awful their dares get, no matter what terrible positions they put each other in, your heart will simply burst at the thought of these two finally getting it together due to the sweet and irresistible chemistry Canet and the stunning Cotillard generate. A
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