Un baiser, s’il vous plaît!

Shall We Kiss? is successful, humorous and intelligent framework, a romantic comedy and a comedy of manners about the complicated sexual games in which thirty-somethings get involved. It is also a typical example of the close relationship between language and sex in France (and hence also in French cinema). The film is very classic in its setup, with many static medium shots and beautiful small intermezzos of classical music that give the film a solemn element. Mouret himself plays the clumsy and rather ungainly protagonists and says he was influenced by Chaplin, Tati and Keaton, but the viewer might also think of Rohmer and Woody Allen.
In Nantes, Gabriel gives a lift to Emilie who has come from Paris on business. They both have a partner, but decide to have a romantic dinner anyway. After a goodbye kiss is refused, she decides to tell him a story about her best friends. Nicolas (Mouret) is a maths teacher and Judith (Virginie Ledoyen) is a lab technician married to a rich pharmacist, Claudio. Nicolas indicates that he hasn’t been having much luck with physical love recently, has already had a bad experience with a prostitute and asks Judith to help him out. She hesitates but decides to succumb to his wishes. The spark of passion is lit and the couple have to do make strenuous efforts to sort things out, both towards each other and towards their surroundings. (EH)