FILM OF THE WEEK
INTERVIEW | review: Les poupées russes (Russian Dolls) |
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| Written by Boyd van Hoeij | |
| Friday, 17 June 2005 | |
 French writer-director Cédric Klapisch made L’auberge espagnole (The Spanish Apartment) in 2002, a film about control freak Xavier (Romain Duris) who loosens up when he comes into contact with students from other countries whilst studying and living with them for a year in a cramped Barcelona apartment. Of that film, I wrote: “It is a lovable, cozy mess just like its architectural setting. Its formal freshness and energy make up for its lack of depth”. The film was a huge success both in France and abroad; many people felt they could identify with Xavier and his friends because it reminded them of the time in their own lives when they were studying, meeting new people and cultures and having a different, meaningless fling every night. After one graduates and starts working, all this changes, which is what lent L'auberge espagnole its bittersweet, almost melancholy air for most viewers. Klapisch seems to have understood this very well, as Les poupées russes (The Russian Dolls), his sequel to L’auberge espagnole, presents us with many characters from the first film facing the dreaded age of thirty and a lot less frivolity on their mind. Xavier is now a free-lance writer who has a lot of trouble finding the right girl. He is still in contact with his ex Martine (again played by Audrey "Amelie" Tautou), who has a child from another man she does not see anymore, as well as his lesbian friend Isabelle (Cécile De France). Xavier faces the questions of life: what does he want to do when he grows up and who does he want to be with? His grandfather keeps asking the writer to bring along his fiancée and in the most hilarious sequence of the film Xavier finally caves in and asks Isabelle to help him out. She obliges and even puts on a dress and high heels, but, masculine as she normally is, she clearly hates the experience. When they come out onto the street again after dinner, she tells him: “Princesses only exist in fairy tales. Try to find yourself someone real”. Klapisch thus allows his characters to continue be fun and lively but they have also acquired a hint of emotional depth and melancholy that seems suited to their age. The MTV-style editing and score remain unchanged from part one, and Klapisch uses a storytelling technique that is rather similar to the one used by Xavier in a script for a TV film (“a love story”) he is writing; lots of flashbacks and parallel stories, sometimes even offering different possibilities for the same situation. The director has certainly matured as a filmmaker, much like his characters have. It was only three years ago that L’auberge espagnole came out (though the sequel takes place five years after the first) and the director has only made one film in between (Ni pour, ni contre (bien au contraire)/Not For Or Against) but here he handles his complicated timeline and multiple locations (Paris, London, Moscow and St. Petersburg) and large cast with a newfound, self-assured flair.The focus this time around is squarely on Xavier and all the others are mere supporting characters; it is a shame that Mr Duris’s performance is among the least inspired. The ladies, including Tautou, De France and Kelly Reilly, who reprises her role as Wendy, are all scene-stealers. Perhaps it is appropriate that Romain Duris is outshone by all the females he encounters; his character is in a crisis over finding the right woman after all! What exactly happens in St Petersburg and what the titular dolls have to with it I will leave for you to discover. Let me just state that Les poupées russes is a more finely wrought, well-matured version of the film that inspired it. Which, however, does not exclude a lot of meaningless fun! |
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