A Masterpiece!

A Disappointing Continuation

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

I saw this movie last night. I like it very much. Sure, I know what the ending will be since I have watched so many of these love films. What really caught my attention was when Wendy telling Xavier that she loves him and that though he is imperfect (who is perfect), compared to Ed (her former boyfriend), Xavier is a day at the beach. She then tells him, that a lot of girls fall for the beauty and perfection of that person, and that is all they want to see. She looks beyond that, she falls for the imperfection and the defects of Xavier. In real life, most of us only care for the beauty and the nice things of the person we infatuate with. We gloss over the imperfections. Once the beauty has worn off, we then notice the imperfections which we dislike. Eventually it will lead to a fallout. In a way this movie taught us that love is when you look beyond the beauty and perfection, you find the defects and imperfection, somehow you still love that person. It is quite different from yes, he or she has imperfections and defects, but I will be able to change these once we are together.

I loved first part and I as really afraid to see the second part comes worse. But I loved second part even a little more then the first one due to brilliant soundtrack and some Russian scenes. being Russian I sometimes do not like scenes of Russian life in western movies since they are full of stereotypes and stubborn Russians. But pictures of Russia and Russian characters in these film look so true and natural that I could not find any single point to criticize. No matter how old you are I strongly recommend to see this movie...the ideal scenario is to look first part when you are about 25 and the second part when you are about 30 - then it will be maximum close to your feelings.

Cédric Klapisch showed his breadth as a filmmaker when, in 1996, he completed two wonderful films in starkly contrasting genres and styles: "Chacun cherche son chat" ("When the Cat's Away"), an endearing light comedy about the eccentrics inhabiting a Parisian neighborhood, and "Un air de famille" ("Family Resemblances"), an intense, claustrophobic psychodrama about the propagation and feeding of neurosis within a family. He made other films after that, which I have not seen, and then came "L'Auberge espagnole" ("The Spanish Apartment") (2002) and now its sequel, "Russian Dolls," both of which, while wildly popular, I find quite dull, really boring in comparison with the two films he created a decade earlier.Nothing much happens. The old international gang who grew fond of each other as college students in Barcelona (as depicted in "L'Auberge") reunite in St. Petersburg for the marriage of one of their old chums, William (Kevin Bishop), to a Russian girl, Natacha (Evguenya Obraztsova). This event brings to a head the conflict about commitment that has plagued the narcissistic, immature Xavier (Romain Duris) in his on-again-off-again relationship with the statuesque Wendy (Kelly Reilly). At one point Xavier escapes from Wendy's clutches for a brief romp with the dazzling beauty Celia (Lucy Gordon). And so it goes. Will Xavier ever grow up? Will Wendy's short skirts eventually disappear altogether? (Yawn) I suppose these films are well received by younger adults everywhere, in part because they see reflected in the characters their own struggles to achieve and sustain intimacy, in part because the players come from so many places that younger viewers in almost any western nation can find one of their own on the screen here, and also because the ensemble is composed of good looking people. But the maturational issues are addressed ever so much better in Richard Linklater's "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset." Besides Duris, Reilly and Bishop, also reunited for the sequel are Audrey Tautou (as Martine), Cécile De France (Isabelle), Irene Montalà (Neus), Cristina Brondo (Soledad), Federico D'Anna (Alessandro), Barnaby Metschurat (Tobias) and Christian Pagh (Lars). (Zzzzz) My grades: 5.5/10 (C+) (Seen on 01/23/07)

Continuing where L'AUBERGE ESPAGNOLE left off, Russian DOLLS fast-forwards five years into the future and presents us a Xavier we thought we wouldn't be seeing: the professional who has a sordid job writing bad soap opera, far from the successful novelist he had originally planned to be, his life mired in confusion and hovering immaturity. At age thirty he has had unsuccessful relationships with women -- several of them who make their re-appearances from the previous film, among them Audrey Tautou (Martine) and Irene Montalá (Neus) -- and who fate seems to be directing him towards Wendy (Kelly Reilly) who is also involved in a self-destructive affair with a controlling nobody. Along the way, he reconnects with Isabelle in a cheeky sequence that could be a male's fantasy (as it involves lots of lesbians and Durin himself dons a dress and wig), but this leads him to a botched affair with Kassia (Aïssa Maïga) and the pursuit of superficial beauty under the persona of a supermodel (Lucy Gordon). Along the way we also see Wendy's brother William (Kevin Bishop) find love and marital happiness with the Russian ballerina Natascha (Evguyenya Obraztsova), and a reunion that finds all of the original cast members together. However, this is mainly Romain Durin, Kelly Reilly, and in a lesser way, Cecile de France's movie -- a fragmented soap opera that displays the continuing adventures of these young people as they move through life and try to find relative happiness in the adult world.