Shall We Kiss?
- Year:2009
- Rating:PG
- Director:Emmanuel Mouret
- Cast:Michael Cohen, Julie Gayet, Virginie Ledoyen, Emmanuel Mouret
- Release Date:June 11, 2009
- Distributor:Umbrella
- Running time:96 minutes
- Film Worth:$12.50
- FILMINK rates movies out of $20 - the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
“...not your average romantic comedy.”
Writer, director, star Emmanuel Mouret's Shall We Kiss? pleases with a unique storyline, witty dialogue, a lively soundtrack and loveable characters. In this gem, Mouret stars alongside Virginie Ledoyen as the subjects of a story explaining why there is no such thing as "a kiss of no consequence."
The film begins with the usual romantic comedy formula of boy meets girl, girl leads boy on, boy goes in for the kiss, and is painfully denied. In this case, the boy is Gabriel (Michael Cohen), the girl is Emilie (Julie Gayet), and the denial is for a very good reason (and not just because they are both in relationships).
To explain the danger of a single kiss, Emilie tells Gabriel the story of her two friends, the adorably naive Nicolas (Mouret) and his seemingly-happily-in-love platonic best friend Judith (Ledoyen). To try to provide Nicolas with the physical affection he's been craving so that he can be in the mood to initiate a new relationship, Judith agrees to have sex with him. In the comical scene that ensues, the two friends embark on their first intimate, painfully awkward experience. Despite Nicolas finding a girlfriend after the encounter, both friends admit that they can't put their experience out of their minds. Deciding that it has to just be a fluke, they decide to have sex again to prove that it wasn't actually any good. No luck. The rest of the film revolves around their confusing emotions, and the consequences of a single kiss, with Tchaikovsky and Schubert playing in the background.
As the film ends with a twist, you realise that it has masterfully made you care about both couples, and even the slighted partners, sealing the deal that this is not your average romantic comedy. Shall We Kiss? simply delights.
