PREMIERE.COM'S REVIEW (posted 2/15/07)

Sweet as a dish of chocolate mousse, thin as a raspberry crepe, and light as the foam on top of a cappuccino, the new French comedy Avenue Montaigne is more of a desert than a full three-course meal. Co-written and directed by Daniéle Thompson, who previously helmed the offbeat romantic comedy Jet Lag, the film unfolds on one block of the titular Parisian avenue, where a theater, a concert hall, and an auction house stand side by side. Also nearby is an upscale bistro, which keeps the employees (as well as the customers) of these venerable institutions well-fed. The cafe's gruff owner famously refuses to hire female waiters, that is, until Jessica (Cécile de France) walks through his door and asks for a job. Little does Jessica realize that in addition to busing tables, she'll also become the conduit that connects three different dramas that are unfolding across the street.

Her role as the film's go-between begins when she delivers lunch to Jean-François Lefort (Albert Dupontel), the star pianist who tickles the keys at the neighboring symphony space. Even though he's one of the city's most respected classical musicians, Lefort has grown tired of performing and dreams of retiring to the country where he'll sip tea on the patio in between giving the occasional piano lesson. The only problem is, this isn't a life that his wife and manager Valentine (Laura Morante) wishes to share. As Jean-François ponders his future, in the theater next door another artist is experiencing a career crisis. Although Catherine Versen (Valérie Lemercier) earns a sizeable check as the lead actress in a hit soap opera — Jessica is one of the show's many fans and can't help gawking when she first encounters her idol at the bistro — she yearns to do something more substantial. That's why she's agreed to headline a stage farce that's being directed by her ex-husband. Catherine's real dream though, is to land the role of famed philosopher Simone de Beauvoir in a film that's being directed by noted American director Brian Sobinski (Sydney Pollack). While actress and pianist ready themselves for their respective opening nights, noted art collector Jacque Grumberg (Claude Brasseur) prepares to auction off the collection he and his recently deceased wife devoted their lives to building. His son Frederic (Christopher Thompson) isn't entirely pleased about this and vents his frustrations to — who else? — Jessica.

Avenue Montaigne was one of the nine films shortlisted for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, but was excluded from being one of the final five nominees. It's hard to argue against its omission; compared to more probing entertainments like Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth and Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's The Lives of Others, the pleasures of Avenue Montaigne are entirely surface level. We enjoy spending time with these people, but we aren't asked to really understand them. Still, despite — or, more likely, because of — the film's modest ambitions, there's not an awful lot to complain about. All of the actors are on point (Dupontel and Morante are particularly good), the individual story arcs are involving, if not exactly complex, and Thompson keeps the proceedings moving along at a comfortable clip. You also can't discount the charm of the film's Parisian backdrop. Does the film accurately reflect contemporary life in the City of Lights? Certainly not, but it does reinforce Paris's reputation as the perfect setting for frothy comedies.

— Ethan Alter