Pardon My French

Nathalie is being stalked. By an interesting, intelligent young woman called Anaïs, who makes quite an impression on Nathalie, whose real name is Célimène and who happens to be a writer experiencing a crisis. She is so impressed that before long she lets Anaïs stand in for her at her birthday party and makes crucial decisions about her life under Anaïs influence. Chiara Mastroianni shines as a comedienne with a sad face in the role of Célimène/Nathalie. Like a ghost she walks through her own life, which appears to be an ongoing renovation just like her apartment in Paris. There, she takes refuge under some plastic sheeting to escape her all-too well-meaning mother, whom Nathalie and her young son Adam are temporarily staying with. But Anaïs grows with her new task as well. Sophie Fillières, whose debut feature Grande petite premiered in the Forum 1994, once more proves her originality with her fourth feature film. Un chat un chat is an inexhaustible reservoir of amusing ideas, twists and turns and at that to be taken as seriously as a comedy can be taken. –Berlinale