RUSSIAN DOLLS
Reviews
Metro:
Kelly Reilly: terrific - Metro
Russian Dolls (15) Running time: 125min ***
Russian Dolls concerns the same exuberant young Europeans as writer/director Cédric Klapisch's earlier film Pot Luck and sees wannabe writer Xavier (Romain Duris) dither over shagging adorable Parisian Audrey Tautou or messy, keep-it-real Brit Kelly Reilly (terrific). Enjoyably adequate. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh
Daily Telegraph
Strong showing from Kelly Reilly – Daily Telegraph
From the Daily Telegraph
Russian Dolls (15 cert, 125 min)
Russian Dolls is Cédric Klapisch's follow-up to L'Auberge espagnole, a watchable Europudding of a flatshare comedy that was big on the Continent but barely registered here. Five years on, Xavier (a weirdly dorky Romain Duris) is a budding screenwriter still dealing with his ex (Audrey Tautou). He is hired to write a romp for TV that's even sillier than his own amorous crises, and although there's a strong showing from smitten Brit Kelly Reilly, it's not enough. Tim Robey
The Independent
Russian Dolls (15)
By Robert Hanks
Published: 05 May 2006
Is this the face of global film-making in the 21st century - a romantic comedy that hops between Paris, London and St Petersburg, switching languages at every turn? Romain Duris, the protagonist of The Beat that My Heart Skipped, plays Xavier, a directionless, atomised hack-writer who attracts a string of unaccountably attractive women, including Audrey Tautou - as gooily winsome as ever - and the excellent Kelly Reilly. They all live in fashionable apartments rather above their income level, like a kind of Euro-Friends.
Xavier meanders from woman to woman, enunciating deep thoughts about the meaning of love as he goes, and the plot meanders along with him. At times, it seems as if Klapisch wants to say something about globalisation, though the main lesson is that young bourgeois bohemians dress the same and are just as self-obsessed and herd-minded the whole world over. But morals are lost among the loose ends and subplots, and Klapisch relies too heavily on Duris's shallow charm. It is a sequel to L'Auberge Espagnole (released over here as Pot Luck), and it's possible that it will make more sense to those who saw the earlier film.
Impressive cast ... Kelly Reilly is terrific – The Times
The Times May 04, 2006
Russian Dolls
15, 125mins
Multicultural relationships are also the theme of Russian Dolls, an Anglo-French co-production that’s as flippant and superficial as Love + Hate is earnest. A sequel to L’Auberge Espagnole (smug, gorgeous people flit around Barcelona and agonise about relationships), the film takes the same formula and transposes it to Paris, London and St Petersburg a few years later.
Romain Duris is Xavier, a struggling writer who can’t commit to any of the string of leggy beauties who end up in his bed. Audrey Tautou is his militant ex-girlfriend, Cécile De France his lesbian flatmate and Kelly Reilly the British screenwriter collaborating with him on a trashy television romance.
The impressive cast is the film’s main strength, particularly the terrific Reilly. But the director, Cédric Klapisch, deploys a whole arsenal of irritating stylistic tics and tricksy editing, and a soundtrack that sounds as if it has been attacked by a five-year-old with a pair of scissors.
WENDY IDE
A witty and perceptive script shows that Klapsich has matured as a writer ... one can’t help but be swept away by the joie de vivre of it all. Time Out
Russian Dolls
In 2002, Cédric Klapisch made the ultimate European flick in the shape of ‘Pot Luck’, an entertaining comedy drama that revolved around an assortment of internationals sharing a flat in Barcelona. ‘Russian Dolls’ sees the writer-director return to the same territory, revisiting a collection of characters who have become older but not necessarily wiser in the intervening years. Once again, Frenchman Xavier (Romain Duris) takes centre-stage, his disappointing career as a sell-out screenwriter tempered by his increasingly tangled love-life. Dividing his time between a gaggle of gorgeous girls, Xavier struggles with the grim reality of hitting 30 and facing a future with neither love nor purpose in his life.
A witty and perceptive script shows that Klapsich has matured as a writer, but the same cannot be said of his quirky direction, which seems strangely self-conscious this time around. The two-hour film also comes close to outstaying its welcome, yet by the time the main players reconvene in Russia for a joyous wedding celebration, one can’t help but be swept away by the joie de vivre of it all. Chris Tilly
Source : Time Out London Issue 1863: May 3-10 2006
User reviews
Luc Leblanc May 3 2006
Russian Dolls isn't only a funny movie and a melting of different relationships between Xavier (Romain Duris) and different girls. It's all about the quest of how should we live our relationships. Cedric Klapish raises questions about love (a difficult subject if you try not to fall in clichés)...
Tristan Bailey May 2 2006
A good film, though not quite as funny as the first, and would have been nicer to show it from more characters views like the first.
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From the Guardian Online:
More about Russian Dolls (Les Poupées Russes)
Russian Dolls
Cert 15
Andrew Pulver
Friday May 5, 2006
The Guardian
Continent-crossing comedy ... Russian Dolls
When L'Auberge Espagnole (aka Pot Luck) became a minor Euro hit in 2002, hardly anyone had heard of its lead, Romain Duris; as its sequel arrives, he's become the hottest name in French cinema, eclipsing even his co-star Audrey Tautou.
Duris effortlessly holds the centre in an entertaining ensemble comedy, which reunites a group of random holiday-makers as they reach their 30s. One of their number is about to get married (to a Russian ballet dancer), sparking various early-life crises among this small circle: Duris, in particular, bounces between ex-girlfriend Tautou and slinky English scriptwriter Kelly Reilly. Director Klapisch can't stop himself injecting irritatingly whimsical special effects every now and then, but otherwise handles the international cast and continent-crossing storylines with aplomb.
No shortage of charm ... The Herald
Russian Dolls (15)
HANNAH McGILL May 04 2006
Dir: Cedric Klapisch
With: Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Kelly Reilly, Cécile De France
The main characters from 2002's lovely rom-com L'Auberge Espagnol (released in the UK as Pot Luck) return for a sequel. Xavier (Romain Duris) is nearing 30, but still in flux – his dreams of becoming a writer have led him into unsatisfying TV work and he's still prone to falling in love with every girl who crosses his path. There's no shortage of charm and beauty on show, but the film lacks the neatness of its predecessor and the visual quirks prove annoying rather than clever.
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