Les poupées russes
Tags: storytelling, flashback

Plot synopsis:
The film begins with friends from L'Auberge espagnole meeting in Saint Petersburg at the wedding of Wendy's brother, William. Xavier begins to reminisce about the events of the past several years.
Xavier and Martine have split up and Martine has since had a child and become a committed environmental activist. For financial reasons, Xavier becomes a writer for pulp romantic novels and a ghostwriter, writing the autobiographies of celebrities. Martine criticizes his pulp novel work as being unrealistic and corny. Despite agreeing with this, Xavier only replies that he earns good money. In Paris, Xavier has a brief affair with Kassia, a sales clerk from Senegal. When Xavier's grandfather asks about Xavier's fiancée, he asks his friend Isabelle, who is a lesbian, to pose as his fiancée.
In Paris, Xavier runs into Wendy, who has become an accomplished television writer. She is currently involved in an unhealthy relationship. A TV assignment later takes Xavier to London where he had requested to work with Wendy. Xavier is given the chance to ghost write an autobiography of Celia, a successful young model, whom he visits on a number of occasions. On one of these visits Xavier and Celia kiss before sleeping together while looking at the boats on the River Seine. The film shows Xavier and Wendy's attraction to each other growing before developing into a physical relationship. Xavier fights with Wendy's boyfriend which results in Xavier throwing him out.
Wendy's brother William has fallen in love with Natasha, a Russian ballerina. He spends a year learning Russian to try to win her over. He succeeds and moves to be with her in Saint Petersburg. Xavier and Wendy go to Russia to stay with William and Natasha. Natasha takes them to see the Street of Ideal Proportions, a street on which the buildings are the same height as the street's width and the street's length is ten times its width. Xavier and Wendy's relationship is going well until Celia calls Xavier and asks him to visit her as she is staying in Moscow. Xavier goes to visit Celia, telling Wendy that he has to see a publisher in Moscow. Xavier does not know that Wendy had looked at his cellphone and seen that the caller was another woman, not the publisher. Saying goodbye at the train station, Wendy tells Xavier what she has seen and explains her true feelings. Xavier is stunned and doesn't move from the train as Wendy walks away crying.
In Moscow, Celia and Xavier meet up and sleep together again but some of the attraction between them has gone. Later at a club she asks Xavier to get her a glass of milk. While he is at the bar, Celia runs into some old friends and reluctantly goes with them to another party. After failing to contact one another that night, Xavier and Celia never meet again.
Celia can be seen to represent an ideal woman, the type of unattainable fantasy that Xavier has been seeking his whole life. Xavier is aware that, like the Street of Ideal Proportions, she is ultimately uninteresting in her perfection. Xavier subsequently returns to St. Petersburg but finds that Wendy is avoiding him as she is convinced that he had an affair while in Moscow.
Towards the end of the film, the scene returns to William and Natasha marrying in front of family members and the characters introduced in L'Auberge Espagnole. Wendy's divorced parents begin to squabble during the reception. Wendy has been avoiding Xavier during the time leading up to the wedding, but she is unhappy at seeing her parents arguing and lets Xavier comfort her. He apologises for his past behaviour and the film ends with Xavier and Wendy embracing.

Review: He said that it was directed by the man who made "L'Auberge espagnole", which he liked a lot, but he didn't think that this movie would be a sequel to that one and I believed him.
When he finally finds a girl that he likes, he always believes that there is something better out there and not knowing when to stop looking for more, he is unable to keep them with him...I really liked this movie a lot and I guess there is a very good explanation for it.
Next to the story, this movie also offers some very fine acting by all the actors, but what else can you expect from people like Audrey Tatou, Cécile de France,...
While some will probably miss the whole mixing of nationalities, we can enjoy the fact that the characters are more developed, the story is in the continuity of the first one, and some references are made to L'auberge, but they seem natural.The girls are beautiful,(Xavier is a really lucky guy), the English girl playing Wendy is even more beautiful than in the first one and the fact that we travel so much during this film is the cherry on the cake.For a very good moment, go see this one..
Unbridled lust is not a reliable indicator of the hopelessly complex nature of 'love,' but when you watch movies like Russian Dolls, you'd think it was.
In the same way that L'Auberge Espagnole dealt with the difficulties of career, school, and growing up in general, Russian Dolls deals with love and growing older.
I think the great thing about both of these movies is that so many people can look at these characters- especially Xavier- and say, "Yes!
Humm i don't want to spoil the story, but let me tell you that when you come out the theaters, you'll understand why this movie's called " Russian dolls" ^^ Xavier's life is a mess, he is us !
Of course, the movie does not avoid "love-clichés", but they are quite rare and it deserves to have l"Auberge Espagnole" as a father.
So, here's one of the most anticipated movies of the year 2005 and the sequel to one of the biggest French hits in 2002: "l'Auberge Espagnole" which also acts as a commendable and valuable ambassador for French cinema abroad, "les Poupees Russes".Lucid, the director Cédric Klapisch didn't opt for "l'Auberge Espagnole 2".
It's up to the audience to think about them on account of Klapisch's piece of work.If Klapisch had built "l'Auberge Espagnole" from start to finish with as a source, his memories of cinema student in New York and her sister's who lived one year in Spain with other European fellows under the same roof, here one has to look in Truffaut's filmography for his credentials, more specifically the Antoine Doinel saga.
"Les Poupees Russes" looks like a sequel of a little maladjusted play lets in which Xavier tries to order a life eventually beyond his control.
Bonjour Paris!".After the bitter memory left by Klapisch's adventure in the film noir with "Ni Pour Ni Contre (Bien Au Contraire), 2003", the year 2005 saw him on clover again with a forte he had tapped in "le Péril Jeune" (1994): a right chronicle on young people of different ages and an accurate appraisal of their feelings.
Sometimes we search for love, sometimes, like for William and Natacha you just know right away.There were many great visual moments, but certainly there was one of the best "hand holding" scene's in a movie.
This is funny in that fast, off the wall way "Amelie" was funny, though here I think it gets another level of complexity that not only makes you pay attention, but rewards your attention.Leading man Romain Duris is subtle and charming (and what American girls would call "cute"), and he the thread through time in a long multi-tasking flashback with lots of editing and framing liberties.
For a scenario writing job, he goes to London to work in collaboration with Wendy.After the "Auberge Espagnole", Cédric Klapisch shows his talents again directing great actors such as Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou and Kelly Reilly.When the movie was over, I thought that it was one of the best love stories I've ever seen.
The difference between l'Auberge Espagnole and the sequel makes a good indicator for how uninteresting life becomes in the real world after school.
If "L'Auberge espagnole" was" Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship," "Russian Dolls" is "Wilhelm Meister's Travels." As someone who has actually suffered through those novels, which have to be among the dullest ever written, I can appreciate these modern film renditions, both of which convey the same basic points and are far better to sit through.A point worth considering, one that was hammered home with the architectural analogy, is that the ideal woman is not a woman, but art itself, something Goethe referred to as the "eternal feminine."These movies are smarter than they're given credit for.
Whereas in the original people from all over the world came together in Barcelona, this time Xavier goes to a lot of different locations (Paris, London, St. Petersburg, Moscow).
Apart from Xavier, the focus of the story lies on people who were only side characters in "L'auberge espagnole" (Wendy, Martine, Isabelle, Kevin), but there stories don't necessarily go anywhere.
That's not a bad thing, but it makes "Les poupées russes" seem disjointed, as if it didn't have one continuous plot, but is a mere sequence of individual scenes.Another thing that took me out of the movie, is the way the characters talk.
I'd love to go back and see the original version with subtitles, as "L'auberge espagnole" was also much better that way.However, what cannot be excused by translation is the movie's visual, off key humor, that really sometimes misses the mark this time around.
Wacky little fantasy moments do work here and there, but more often than not, they seem forced into the movie to match the style of the original.One thing that I always liked about Xavier, is that he can be a selfish jerk at times, but still isn't treated as the bad guy in the story.
Much the same way, Xavier is forgiven this time, quickly and without explanation the movie just rushes to its end."Les poupées russes" is not entirely successful, and because of the aforementioned lack of storyline, it does drag on a bit.
This may be the reason director Cédric Klapisch gets back to his set of characters from the 'L'Auberge Espagnole' and takes them a few years later in another set of romantic comedy adventures set in Paris, London and St. Petersburg.
I did not like too much 'L'Auberge Espagnole' either, it looked to me like some kind of American college comedy taken into Europe, but at least it had the common background of the rented apartment and a few good although stereotype comic moments.
On the whole i do think this was much more watchable than the first.However, as in the first movie (L'Auberge Espagnole), i had little sympathy for the main character, Xavier.
I think the movie has succeeded in depicting the life, the love that intertwines with it, the things that make us different, and those that transcend our cultural and personal differences.When I first saw L'auberge espagnole, I was embarking on an education journey that would span two continents in the cohort of people from all around the world.
L'auberge espagnole was a great prequel to my experience.In this sequel named "Les Poupées Russes", I find myself again firmly planted in the midst of the characters.
In his thirties, Xavier and others' confused relationships reflect a bewilderment in that age group, as some choose to settle down, and some continue to seek the ephemeral.As for national boundaries, it is interesting that the story now depicts a different set of frontiers for Europe (before the recent constitutional crisis), the UK and Russia.
Everyone is looking for a better life with love and happiness.Ultimately, what makes it all work is what William has done in the movie.
Romain Duris is still great in it, and like in The Spanish apartment, what makes this movie great is: you easily put yourself in the story.
As "L'Auberge espagnole" took place principally in Barcelona (Spain), "Les poupées russes" takes place in Paris, London and St-Petersburg.So, you have to see it: it's just great!Oh, one more thing, I forgot to tell you that in "The Russian Dolls", Kelly Reilly (who plays Wendy) is great: she acts so well and she is meant for playing Wendy: she is beautiful, clever and has a lot of charm.
I am sure she is the one who can make French liking (perhaps loving!) England.Yes it is a sequel, but it is not necessary to have seen "L'auberge espagnole" to see "The Russian dolls".
Russian DOLLS ('Les Poupées russes') is the full of love folllowup by Cédric Klapisch to his highly successful 2002 film 'L'Auberge Espagnole', the film that tossed multinational young people together in a Barcelona apartment and watched them interact and create some sense out of the havoc that was their lives.
If the film is too much in love with itself, (the self-indulgent multiple split screen viewing and back and forth pacing tends to be a bit cutesy), in the end there is so much fun and wry wisdom to spread around that many of the holes in the script can be forgiven.The story focuses on events five years after the Barcelona doings in 'L'Auberge Espagnole' and yet as the main character Xavier Rousseau (Romain Duris) narrates the current tale he finds the need for flashbacks to explain current circumstances.
William (Kevin Bishop), the bigot from before who labeled roommate Tobias (Barnaby Metschurat) as a Nazi, has smoothed out a bit and in fact has found love in a Russian girl Natacha (Evguenya Obraztsova), a Russian ballet dancer who lives in St. Petersburg and the current story is supposed to be about their wedding in St. Petersburg which will also be a reunion for all the roommates from Barcelona.
Xavier toys with a beautiful black girl Kassia (Aïssa Maïga) and is rejected, and just about the time when Xavier feels as though he will never find the right girl ('You just keep opening them like Russian nested dolls hoping that the one in the center will be your choice'), his script is picked up by BBC and he flies to London to work with Wendy (Kelly Reilly - William's attractive sister, unsuccessful in finding a decent mate) and voila!
A sequel to The Spanish Apartment, you don't really have to watch that in order to enjoy Russian Dolls, even though most of the characters come back in this one.
The protagonist is Xavier (Romain Duris), a down-and-out writer who's looking for his next big break, no matter if it's a cheesy love story that he's tasked to work with, or ghostwriting memoirs of celebrities.
Business brings Xavier and Wendy together (Kelly Reilly, in a lot of movies lately, like Mrs Henderson Presents, Pride and Prejudice), and love blossoms between the two, despite initially starting off as platonic, and Wendy still being stuck in a relationship that she doesn't have the strength to walk away from.
It might seem that the story's the usual of love, finding love, losing it, and all the clichés of a romance flick, but with an added punch.It's also interesting to note the different apartments that Xavier encounters, from his ex's home, to Isabelle's bachelor pad, from an ordinary London home in Wendy's, to the luxurious French suite of Celia's.
That movie ended on a happy and idealistic note, with a newly self-aware Xavier (Romain Duris) realizing that he'd studied economics for all the wrong reasons, and that he really wanted to be a writer.
And yet he doesn't seem to think there's anything wrong with this.In other words, "The Russian Dolls" is another story of Xavier's growing self-awareness, this time with higher stakes.
He can still act like the hooligan he was in "L'Auberge Espagnole," but his love for a Russian ballerina has made him mature, devoted, and truly romanticeverything that Xavier is not.
He makes Xavier charming enough that we want to follow his story, but doesn't apologize for the irritating and stupid things this character can do.Funny, romantic, and just deep enough, "The Russian Dolls" ought to have wide appeal.
It just might be the perfect date movie: the relationships presented in the film cover a wide range of male-female interactions, and you're likely to see yourself in at least one of the characters..
With my colleague, we choose this movie by hazard and I am finally surprised to see how close this movie spoke to me.This is a sequel of a great success in France, and even thought I still don't have seen the first one, people kept telling me that it was already my autobiography: same name,Xavier, same job in public administration, same community life abroad Now, the character grows older (as me), lives in Paris (as me), welcomes his European friends in Paris (as me) and visits others abroad, essentially in London (as me).
This french film is a sequel of L'Auberge Espagnol, a good film about a bunch of European students sharing a small apartment in Barcelona.
I would not recommend a purchase.Romain Duris (Xavier) - 10/10 - Amazing performance once again.Kelly Reilly (Wendy) - 8/10 - Very good.Audrey Tautou (Martine) - 8/10 -Very good.Cédric Klapisch - 7/10 - Great movie, which would have benefited from not being dubbed a sequel to L'Auberge, and less funky camera editing twists..
It's just a two hour long teenage soap opera, where all the characters are looking for a 'right' person that, for some reason, they can't find.This pseudo-grown up reflexion about love ends up as a boring and uninspired cliché with no deep meaning, an insult to any person who enjoyed The Spanish Apartment and has already surpassed the confusions of his early youth..
Its multi-lingual picture of the international student life in Barcelona went down easy, and Russian Dolls is the sequel, again featuring Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Cécile de France, Kelly Reilly, et al.
Russian Dolls picks up Xavier (Duris) five years later, now a well-paid writer, and focuses more on Auberge's most provocative character, Wendy's volatile brother William (Kevin Bishop).
Xavier briefly dates a cute black girl, uses his lesbian ex-roommate Isabelle (Cécile de France) as a stand-in "fiancée" to meet his 98-year-old grandpa (Pierre Gérald), has a quick romance with would-be memoirist twenty-something super-model Celia (Lucy Gordon) and homes in on Wendy (Kelly Reilly).
This is strictly movie land, and it would be a mistake to take any of Russian Dolls too seriously, but Klapisch, who had five years to ponder this sequel but likes to improvise his script from day to day during shooting, knows how to keep the ball rolling.
I quoted "realises" because it's less "realises" than it is finding himself an excuses to get back to the previous chick.There are in this movie some of the most Dumbest reflections about love and relationships that I've heard in my life ( for example : you have to "try" every girl you can get your hands on to find the "one"...
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.
In "Les poupées russes", the main character of both films, Xavier (Duris), has coped well with his post-Erasmus nostalgia.
Xavier is nearly thirty and his life still badly needs focus.The film follows Xavier from Paris to London to Moscow to Saint-Petersburg, examining relationships with his ex-Erasmus friends (many of whom look like they got a hold on life better than himself), his ex-girlfriend Martine (Tautou) and various new lovers.
5 years having passed in the characters' lives, the approach of the movie is to show how they are after such a long time, in different situations, places and stages of personal development, instead of trying to force them into a new Erasmus experience.
In my opinion, this was a very successful idea, because while we meet all the characters from the previous film, we don't have to struggle with the unpleasant feeling that we are being told a story we already know.The actors, I think, are just perfect, personally I loved Roman Duris, Kelly Reilly, Cécile De France; and Kevin Bishop, of course, is a pleasant surprise, but the others are more than OK, too.
We only learn this near the end, when the main character, Xavier, compares life and love to Russian Dolls.
In fact, the story is mainly of Xavier's trying to make sense out of life, out of his job as a writer, and trying to figure out who he is supposed to love.The story moves around to three main locations, Paris, London, and Moscow.
Romain Duris is very good as the young writer Xavier Rousseau.
Audrey Tautou is also good in a minor role as Martine, one of Xavier's former loves.There actually is a Russian story also.
In the end, Xavier realizes who he really is, and what life and love are really about, and settles in with Wendy, the writer..
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.
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..