Chinese Puzzle (France: Casse-tête chinois), 2013.
Directed by Cedric Kaplisch.
Starring Romain Duris, Audrey Tatou, Cecile De France, Kelly Reilly and Sandrine Holt.
SYNOPSIS:
When the wife of 40 year old Father of two, Xavier Rosseau leaves him taking the children with her to live in New York, he cannot watch them grow up from France and so follows them with the hope of living there himself. As a result, the complications of this soon unfold…
I can’t remember a time when I have seen the third part of a trilogy without watching its predecessors first. So, this may have been a first. Did it matter that this was the case with Chinese Puzzle? No. Did I feel that I missed out on character backgrounds? Again: no. This was probably due to the actors’ familiarity with their roles, I didn’t find myself wondering what had happened before to this group of friends; the supporting cast of Tatou, De France and Reilly interacted with the protagonist Duris so perfectly that I didn’t question what had gone before.
To some, the crazy situations that Rosseau (played by Duris) finds himself, correction, puts him-self in, may be far-fetched. This is negated though by the way that the writer and director Kaplisch constructs his film which has a very natural feel to it; Rosseau provides the sperm for his lesbian friend to have a baby with: “So what” says the production with a Gallic shrug of the shoulders, not an arrogant shrug, but more of a “Let’s move on” shrug.
I didn’t have long to ponder on these crazy moments though, as the pace of the film is quick; cutting from scene to scene swiftly while employing excellent cinematography work by Natasha Braier and with a funky score by Christoph Mink keeping the momentum up.
I liked the way that Rosseau was a successful player in his field, but this shield was stripped away revealing an average man who just wanted to be with his children; showing us the source of his needs.
I could quite easily have seen this film being attempted by an English production team, probably with Hugh Grant as the lead (obviously several years ago now!) It would have failed though, because of that French…something. In this case though, it has plenty of that “Je ne sais quoi” and that is why it works so well. I really liked it and will seek out its two predecessors: Pot Luck and Russian Dolls. It is a thoroughly enjoyable and affectionate comedy.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
J-P Wooding – Follow me on Twitter.
Originally published October 13, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
