Location, location, location. That's what "they" say. Is it not? If Cédric Klapisch has been testing the theory for more than a decade with a trilogy of films following four glamorous young people (we can still just about describe them that way, I think) as they have romantic adventures in Barcelona, St Petersburg and, now, New York City.
It's hard to say whether Klapisch has grown up or his characters have matured, but the final movie – after Pot Luck and Russian Dolls – is by far the least annoying of the three. The characters have become just a little less self-absorbed. The plot is more entangled but a good deal less contrived.
Chinese Puzzle centres on Xavier, a very French writer played by the never less than French Romain Duris. As we begin, Xavier's marriage to Wendy (Kelly Reilly) is faltering. Things go from bad to worse when he agrees to act as surrogate parent for old chum Isabelle (Cécile de France) and her lesbian partner, Ju (Sandrine Holt).
In efficiently rapid fashion, all three end up in New York. Wendy marries a pleasant but dull man with bottomless pockets. Ju places Xavier in a scruffy – but still implausibly desirable – apartment in Chinatown. He then sets out to write a novel, juggle visa issues, find a job and maintain contact with his children. Later, Martine (Audrey Tautou), whom they first met as Erasmus students in Barcelona, arrives to complete the party.
Klapisch hasn’t lost all his annoying ticks. A running gag in which Xavier communes with Hegel and Schopenhauer dances precariously across the line that separates pretention and plain stupidity. There are a few two many flash camera moves and distracting effect shots. But, against the odds, the actors manage to make personalities of these beautiful people and the film does have something to say about the business of growing up together and apart.
A fourth episode would not be an intolerable prospect.
