'Shall We Kiss' is sophisticated romantic comedy in Woody Allen style

'Shall We Kiss,' which opens at The Belcout on Friday, explores the age-old question: Does sex destroy otherwise great friendships between men and women?

Emmanuel Mouret has often voiced his admiration for Woody Allen, and if the iconic New Yorker anchored his films in France rather than America, England or Spain, they might look like Mouret's Shall We Kiss.

This often hilarious and convoluted romantic comedy, which opens at The Belcourt Theatre Friday, asks and answers in rather convincing fashion the age-old question: Does sex destroy otherwise great friendships between men and women?

Guys probably won't like the suggested answer, while many women will affirmatively shake their heads while watching this tale of romantic confusion, missteps and bad calculations.

It begins with a standard convention, a guy meets and befriends a woman, and something that starts off one way quickly goes in another direction. Gabriel (Michael Cohen) is a furniture restorer who offers a ride to fabric designer Emilie. They soon decide to have dinner, and then comes the awkward moments, when they try to determine whether the evening should end or continue into an intimate situation.

But while they're trying to make a decision, Gabriel decides to tell a story. This becomes another film-within-a-film setting, a device that can be annoying in the wrong hands, but one that works perfectly for this occasion. It unveils the story of math teacher Nicholas (Mouret) and lab researcher Judith (Virginie Ledoven), best friends seemingly forever.

However, the friendship takes some odd twists and turns as they suddenly go from having an emotional but platonic connection to something much deeper. Judith gets into this situation from the standpoint of trying to help rekindle sexual emotions within Nicholas, even though both parties already are involved with other people.

These liaisons eventually get others involved (Frederique Bel, Stefano Accorsi), and soon it's hard not only to tell the players in the scenario apart but also to understand which couple is really in love.

Helping all this along is Mouret's understanding of how absurd romance can be, and his ability to visually show it and articulate it through language that is equal parts humorous, tart, cynical and bemused. Because all these people are depicted as good, if at various times paranoid and dumb, it's hard not to want to see them succeed. However, it's clear that most of the time they don't know what they want, and Mouret brilliantly celebrates their utter lack of knowledge and emotional grounding.

Shall We Kiss dispenses with the rancor and physical/slapstick elements that too often dominate American comedies. Instead, it relies on timing, irony, understatement and flair to make its points.

Shall We Kiss
Written and directed by: Emmanuel Mouret
Starring: Virginie Ledoyen, Julie Gayet, Michael Cohen, Frederique Bel, Stefano Accorsi, Emmanuel Mouret
Time: 112 minutes
Rating: NR
Our view: Ideal for those who love both French films and sophisticated romantic comedy, otherwise may be seen as too erratic, fanciful and outlandish.