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.

When I first caught "L'auberge espagnole", the predecessor to "Les poupées russes", on TV, I was in a bad mood. The movie, however, cheered me up so much, I fell in love with it, even more so, when years later I practically lived it on my own Erasmus semester. The bar was set up high for the sequel."Les poupées russes" doesn't really compare to the first part. The setting is different. 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. For instance, we only get glimpses of where Martine and Xavier's mother are in their (love) lives without that ever resolving into anything. 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. It seems highly unnatural at times, but it may have to do with the fact that I watched the German dubbed version. 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. When Xavier literally turns into a piper to lure employers into believing him, it's just not very funny. The same goes for scenes, in which he wears a dress, gets beat up by a lesbian or introduces his make-believe-fiancée to his grandpa. 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. That to me shows a differentiated, less clichéd idea of man on the filmmaker's part. It makes it easier to identify with the character. I'm not entirely satisfied with how Xavier's missteps where treated this time. Actually, thinking back I found it highly unrealistic that the doctor in part one forgave him so easily for sleeping with his wife. 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. However, it is great to see how Xavier's life has continued after the first movie. "Les poupées russes" feels like a companion piece to its predecessor, a bit like "Before Sunset" was to "Before Sunrise". As in that franchise, the filmmakers could get away with another sequel, because these movies dependent on their characters more than on story.

This is a lovely follow-up on L'Auberge espagnol. Nobody who enjoyed that should miss this. Especially if, like me, you like films that catch you up with characters you'd enjoyed before like Before Sunset/Before Sunrise. I wouldn't call this a sequel in the sense that it's a rehashing of the original film. Rather, it's a continuation or follow-up on the story. Loved it.If this sounds intriguing to you, it's great. But for the proper full effect, watch L'Auberge first.In all honesty, I now find myself saddened by the thought that M Klapisch may be done with them now. I hope that, in a few years, we get to see these old friends again. Only this time, get a better distribution company in the US. Unlike L'Auberge espagnol (which I saw at the cinema), if it weren't for Netflix, I wouldn't have known this film existed. I keep making deals with myself that I won't buy any more DVDs because we know they'll be obsolete in a few years, but here's another one I'll buy.

(Preface comment: I strongly recommend seeing 'The Spanish Apartment' first, as it is a prelude to this movie.)Before I saw the movie the title brought to mind pretty, young Russian women, perhaps the object of desire of non-Russiam men. But that is far from it. The title is a reference to the atom 'Russian Dolls' where successively smaller dolls are nested inside each other. We only learn this near the end, when the main character, Xavier, compares life and love to Russian Dolls. Each time you encounter one (woman, in his case) you wonder if that is the final one, or is there another waiting for you. 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. The cinematography is very interesting, sometimes using a type of time-lapse photography to compress an activity. Romain Duris is very good as the young writer Xavier Rousseau. He gets paired with fellow writer, a Brit named Wendy, to translate a TV script from his French writing into English, and there sometimes appear to be romantic sparks between them. But Xavier always seems to be searching for that next lady, the 'perfect' one. He seems to find it in a beautiful model that he is assigned to help write her story. Audrey Tautou is also good in a minor role as Martine, one of Xavier's former loves.There actually is a Russian story also. Brit Kevin Bishop plays William, who is working as a lighting technician in Russia when he meets up with Natacha (Evguenya Obraztsova, really a Russian ballerina) and falls for her. He eventually goes away, learns Russian, and returns to try to get her to marry him. He succeeds.The movie is comedic, for the most part, but does have the serious theme of finding one's love in life. In one funny scene, Xavier's girlfriend Neus suddenly gets out of bad during the late night hours, naked, and proceeds to go into the street. He follows her, also naked, and this turns into a funny scene with him running after her, catching up with her, and both going back to his place, while a fully-dressed couple walk by them. SPOILERS. In the end, Xavier realizes who he really is, and what life and love are really about, and settles in with Wendy, the writer.