Writer rushes into love

Although clearly over-extended, the successor to 2002's Pot Luck retains enough Gallic flair to keep us interested.

Xavier, the original protagonist, is now 30 years old and still persistent in his attempts to become a writer and find himself a longterm relationship.

Director Cedric Klapisch, who sets his Anglo-French production in London, Paris and St Petersburg, busies himself with all sorts of slightly tiresome cinematic dodges to keep things going, but he's also quite shrewd in pegging down his characters psychologically.

Xavier's romantic liaisons could have seemed tiringly repetitive if it weren't for the engaging central performance from Romain Duris - so good in The Beat My Heart Skipped - and the equally lively performances of Kelly Reilly, Audrey Tautou and Lucy Gordon, girls with whom he tries to establish more than fleeting affairs.

Russian Dolls (Les Poupees Russes)
Cert: 15