Avenue Montaigne

Starring: Cecile De France, Claude Brasseur, Valerie Lemercier, Albert Dupontel, Laura Morante, Christopher Thompson, Dani, Sydney Pollack, Annelise Hesme, Francois Lepine

Written by: Daniele Thompson and Christopher Thompson

Directed by: Daniele Thomson

Distributor: THINKFilm

Rated: PG-13

Every once in a while, a European film comes along that presents the appeal of Europe so convincingly that it may as well have come straight from a chamber of commerce. With Avenue Montaigne, French filmmaker Daniele Thomson captures a Paris so quaint, modern and conspicuously clean that it almost feels like a theme park. As a film, it isn’t the deepest or most insightful comedy released in the states this year, but as a 100-minute cinematic trip to Paris it’s remarkably pleasant yet comfortably domestic.

A young woman named Jessica (Cécile De France) finds work at a café close to a symphony auditorium, a theatre and an art gallery. De France is charming as a young, free-spirited woman casually sampling moments drawn from the social tapestry of Paris. Between slightly unpleasant moments with her boss, Jessica runs into a world-famous young concert pianist who wants to retire (Albert Dupontel), the son of a gallery owner who is selling his life’s collection (Christopher Thompson) and an aging soap opera star who is desperately trying to reach for something more substantial (Valérie Lemercier).

Cécile de France’s charm strings together three separate worlds of theatre, music and art and the people who are lost in it. The concert pianist and the art collector are getting ready to let go of their central occupations in the interest of a new beginning as the actress aspires to do the same by grabbing for something bigger. The stories run their course as Jessica wades her way through them, slowly her own equilibrium. All of this, of course, happens in one of the most photogenic cities in all of Europe with Thomson’s camera capturing it at just the right angles.

Dupontel is fascinating as a musician looking to let go of the concert circuit. Lemercier is sparklingly comic as an aging actress reaching for a kind of success she’s never quite been able to attain. There are some nice scenes with De France wandering around an empty conservatory, eavesdropping on conversations and generally having a pleasingly idle time of things.

What is missing here is substance. Lemercier’s character makes an interesting observation about how people at a live performance might attempt to pick up any empty seat nearer to the stage until they are too close to enjoy it. This is the central theme of Avenue Montaigne. The characters seem to be willing to let go of something in the interest of aspiring to something greater, and the film itself is content to casually follow them as they do this without aspiring to much itself. VS