As much as I loved 2002's L'Auberge Espanol, I was disappointed by the followup film, Poupées Russes. While it had it's moments, it suffered from many contrived situations and accompanying dialogue, as when Romain Duris' Xavier is put in the uncomfortable situation of his ex girlfriend - Audrey Tatou's character of Martine, unexpectedly crossing paths with his current love interest, a shopgirl named Kassia played by the captivating Aïssa Maïga. Klapisch reduces Cecile de France's formerly mutifacteted characterization of Isabelle to an unsympathetic coke snorting lesbian who takes in one lover after the next. The action centers around the unlikely marriage of William (Kevin Bishop) to a Russian ballerina named Natacha (Evguenya Obraztsova). Cédric Klapisch makes a meek attempt at recreating the sense of connectedness among his characters that he gave us in L'Auberge Espanol by creating a few minutes that include the full cast of L'Auberge as they raise their glasses to the newlyweds in the final minutes of the film, but I didn't buy it, as they'd been noticeably absent prior to this contrived moment. Even Kelly Reilly's character Wendy, although central to the sequel, was given contrived dialogue and unlikely footwear. Martine is a single mother in this sequel, although we never see the father of her child, nor are we privy to the story that led to her current situation.
I can't help but feel that Klapisch is trying to resurrect Jean-Pierre Léaud's likable character of Antoine Doinel, who we first met in 1959 in François Truffaut's Les Quatre Cents Coups, and who's life story we followed in four subsequent films: L'Amour à vingt ans, Baisers volés, Domicile conjugal, and L'Amour en fuite. Worst of all, the ending of Poupées Russes was left deliberately vague, in a style that smacked of Hollywood sequelisms. In the film's closing moments Xavier tells us in a hurried voice-over that he's run out of time to explain his situation, but that it doesn't matter. And why exactly doesn't it matter? Perhaps because all will be revealed in the next installation? I smell a threequel, one in which we see Xavier in five or ten years, married to Wendy, and now a father. Truffaut already gave us this story in Domicile conjugal.
I can't help but feel that Klapisch is trying to resurrect Jean-Pierre Léaud's likable character of Antoine Doinel, who we first met in 1959 in François Truffaut's Les Quatre Cents Coups, and who's life story we followed in four subsequent films: L'Amour à vingt ans, Baisers volés, Domicile conjugal, and L'Amour en fuite. Worst of all, the ending of Poupées Russes was left deliberately vague, in a style that smacked of Hollywood sequelisms. In the film's closing moments Xavier tells us in a hurried voice-over that he's run out of time to explain his situation, but that it doesn't matter. And why exactly doesn't it matter? Perhaps because all will be revealed in the next installation? I smell a threequel, one in which we see Xavier in five or ten years, married to Wendy, and now a father. Truffaut already gave us this story in Domicile conjugal.