> Shall We Kiss
Director: Emmanuel Mouret
Cast: Virginie Ledoyen, Emmanuel Mouret , Julie Gayet, Michaël Cohen, Frédérique Bel, Stefano Accorsi, Mélanie Maudran, Marie Madinier, Lucciana de Vogüe
Rating: (M)
3 stars (out of 5)
Reviewed By Mark Orton
Once upon a time, French cinema was celebrated by film-school academics who heaped praise on the socio-political statements by the likes of Chabrol, Truffaut and Goddard.
Today, it is par for the course to expect nothing more challenging than a diet of romantic farce.
Shall We Kiss (Metro) is yet another wry rumination on middle-class romance, with one major difference, laughter, or a discerning lack of it.
Set up to ship as a flippant comedy, the film actually plays a lot straighter than the canon of films it is likened to.
Shall We Kiss is based on the relatively simple premise that a simple kiss can kick-start a whole chain of life-changing events.
When two complete strangers dine at a hotel with the whiff of infidelity hanging in the air, their ensuing conversation dissolves into a parallel story based on the experience of best friends Judith (Virginie Ledoyen) and Nicolas (Emmanuel Mouret).
As their story follows the fall-out of a platonic relationship given over to sexual attraction, we are left hanging on to find out whether our protagonists will actually get it on.
While Nicolas' bumbling romantic overtures and Judith's staid middle-class persona are amusing, it is mere distraction.
Shall We Kiss' best asset is its pacing.
The film subtly holds back enough information to make the all-is-not-what-it-seems-ending satisfying enough.
Best thing: Vicariously visiting the heavily manicured life of the French middle class.
Worst thing: The painfully awkward love scenes.
See it with: A first date. There are plenty of conversation-starters here.
