Netflix streaming "must" -- the Fanny Herrero and Cedric Klapisch series, CALL MY AGENT

What a brilliant idea coupled to just-about-perfect follow-through is the delightful French cable series, CALL MY AGENT (Dix pour cent), available now on Netflix streaming. The idea is so good, in fact, and so original -- I don't recall its ever being done anywhere before -- that one wonders why Hollywood hasn't immediately co-opted it. The series tells the story of a somewhat large and successful agency for French film stars and the staff who work there.

While we get to know that staff and their lives, each episode actually revolves around a different French movie star, playing him- or herself, struggling with a particular problem -- from aging and the need for a little Botox to love and fidelity, child care, dementia, and just about any/everything else you might imagine.

The brainchild of writer Fanny Herrero, shown at left, with some help from director/producer Cédric Klapisch (he directed two of the initial episodes and helped produce a half dozen of them), the series is one of the most consistently entertaining, enthralling, funny, sweet and all-round-delightful shows TrustMovies has lately encountered. It's up there with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Imposters (season one, anyway; I have not yet seen season two).

Why Hollywood hasn't done this probably involves how huge, often ugly, heartless and far too humorless La La Land actually is. The French film industry, at least according to a number of its actors whom I've interviewed over the years, is just small and cozy enough -- like maybe a great big family, with all the warmth, anger, differences and ups-and-downs most families encounter -- to make a series like this one actually kind of plausible.

When I first began watching the series, while I loved each episode and every sparking moment, I also wondered how folk not as familiar as I with French films and their stable of actors might react to it. For many Americans, even those who occasionally attend foreign films, their knowledge of French movie stars may begin and end with Isabelle Adjani or Juliette Binoche (and, yes, both these stars get an episode here). So far, however all those people to whom I've recommended Call My Agent have fallen in love with it, too.

Ms Herrero has managed to create, via her agents and their helpers (shown on poster, top, and in the photos above), a group of people with whom we fall in love and are happy to stick with through thick and thin.

Ms Binoche, above, gets to end the second season with an episode that finds our agents at the Cannes Film Festival, and it shows off this actress' ability for goofy humor in a manner than Bruno Dumont could learn from.

Along the way we see actors such as Virginie Efira and Ramzy Bedia (above), the great François Berléand (below, playing Don Juan opposite a large, plastic yellow duck),

and the versatile Audrey Fleurot (of Spiral and the new Netflix series, Safe) as a recent mother who, below right, must learn to pole dance for her next role.

Each of the problems that confront these actors is so well-chosen and different, one from the next, that interest and enjoyment never flag. Further, each famous actor gives herself/himself over so completely to whatever is at hand that your respect and admiration for these "stars" should only increase.

That's Line Renaud and Françoise Fabian (left to right, above) as feuding old acquaintances, and Cécile de France (below, center) as the actress facing the perennial face-lift challenge.

And yet, with all this star power, what really makes the series zing and swing is the fabulous cast assembled to play the agenting staff. Every one of these actors deserves stardom (and may have it soon), so very well-chosen and talented is each. It is their characters and their stories that finally make this series as charming and addicting as it is. Miss this one at your own peril.

Call My Agent can be seen now on Netflix, in its first two seasons. We fans are now eagerly awaiting season three.

In Cédric Klapisch's BACK TO BURGUNDY, vintner siblings harvest, fight and reunite

Oenophiles (both real and would-be: who can afford good wines these days?) will probably be drawn to (and with good reason) BACK TO BURGUNDY, the new French film by Cédric Klapisch, one of our favorite, consistently-on-target filmmakers. Whether he is dealing with family (Un air de famille), a group of young, free-spirited students (L'Auberge Espanole and its couple of continuations, as these kids grow up), his lovely/funny/moving ode to the city of Paris, or his look at the French "haves" and "have-nots" (My Piece of the Pie), his films are alert, stylish and eminently watchable. With this new endeavor, M. Klapisch (shown below) returns to the theme of family, this time with a slightly narrower canvas than that of his early work, and the result is a film that resonates ever more strongly as it moves along, uncovering character, growth, humor and immense beauty -- in both its good-looking cast and its gorgeous vineyard locale.

Back to Burgundy (its French title, Ce qui nous lie translates as "That Which Binds Us") begins with a little boy looking out on the vineyard his family owns and describing his feelings about it. It's a lovely scene that immediately engulfs us in the environment of a vintner. This kid will appear now and again throughout the film, especially toward its finale when, in a couple of scenes handled with simplicity and great feeling, the past and present are beautifully united.

Our kid will grow up into a character played by Pio Marmaï (shown below), an actor TrustMovies has enjoyed since seeing him in Living on Love Alone, back in 2010. Marmaï, as Jean, had left his home in France after a falling out with his father, leaving his two siblings to run the family vineyard. He has traveled the world until settling down and starting a vineyard in Australia, where he has formed a strong relationship with a woman and fathered his own son. Now, news of his father's approaching death has brought him back home.

The strong bond between brothers and sister remains, even if it has been frayed a bit, and the movie's major concern has to do with how the three will handle their estate, which, thanks to government taxes, presents some major problems. His sister, played by Ana Girardot (below) is the only one of the three to be presently unattached to some romantic relationship.

Brother Jérémie (François Civil, below) is married to the daughter of a local and competing vintner who is both powerful and controlling. How the three will solve their problem--  which seems to have a number possible solutions -- by joining forces or perhaps with more certainty by remaining apart becomes the thrust of the story. Along the way, we meet various employees, see a harvest or two underway, and get to know subsidiary characters with surprising finesse by Klapisch, who seems to have tamped down somewhat his usual improvisational style to meet the needs of this particular and more formally-told tale.

The film is filled with mostly decent people, doing the best they can while trying to stay out of their own way. Smartly co-written by Kalpisch and Santiago Amigorena with collaboration from supporting actor Jean-Marc Roulot, Back to Burgundy is especially clever in the manner it acknowledges how so many of us prove to be our own worst enemies. On the other hand, these folk's specific problems can also be offset by their specific gifts.

The screenplay also allows us to see those differences in male and female characteristics and how these can be made to work to the advantage of both, to be amused once again by generational differences, and eventually to meet Jean's partner (Maria Valverde, below, right) and the couple's son and begin to understand the vagaries of this relationship, as well. Finally, and despite maybe one coincidence too many, the question of who -- and what -- constitutes family is addressed with emotion and skill enough to make this movie even more moving and encouraging than you may expect.

A film for anyone who loves family, France and wine -- from Music Box Films and running 113 minutes -- Back to Burgundy (in French with English subtitles) opens this Friday, March 23, in New York City (Angelika Film Center), San Francisco (Vogue Theater) and Seattle (SIFF Cinema Uptown) and then on March 30 in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Royal and Playhouse 7 theaters -- as well as elsewhere across the country, where it will play some 50 locations. Here in South Florida it will open on April 13 at the Savor Cinema, Cinema Paradiso, and the Movies of Delray and Lake Worth. Click here (then scroll down to click on THEATERS) to view all currently scheduled playdates, cities and venues.

Third time at the well is the best: Klapisch's look-at-them-now trilogy capper, CHINESE PUZZLE

One of our favorite French filmmakers, Cédric Klapisch, shown below, is back in town with the third in the trilogy that began with L'Auberge Espagnole, continued with Russian Dolls, and now finds his characters at around the 40-year-old mark in his newest chapter, CHINESE PUZZLE (Casse-tête chinois).

In some ways, Klapisch's trilogy is not unlike the "Before" series of Richard Linklater -- but French, rather than American; with only twelve instead of 18 years between first and third chapters; and a larger cast of main characters. This latest installment is every bit as good as the earlier two -- maybe better -- and a wonderful addition to the story of Xavier Rousseau (played by Romain Duris, below) and how he and his friends have grown and changed over the dozen years since this trilogy began. Has M. Klapisch grown looser, freer and more improvisational, one wonders? Seems that way to me, which makes this movie all the more enjoyable and lighthearted, even though its themes -- aging, parenting, responsibility -- are certainly weighty enough. But the filmmaker understands that growth is something you can't hurry. It comes in its own way and arrives in its own good time.

The trilogy, also like Linklater's, has taken place all over the globe. This time, much of the movie transpires in Brooklyn, where Xavier has come to live and work so as to be close to his two children by his now estranged wife (Kelly Reilly, below, second from right). Coincidentally, his lesbian friend Isabelle (Cécile de France, below, left) is now living in New York along with her new pal Ju (the gorgeous Sandrine Holt). Into the picture also arrives another old friend/flame, played by Audrey Tautou (below, right). Together these terrific characters (and actresses) keep the pot boiling and our Xavier on the run.

In terms of plotting, there's an almost screwball-comedy effect working here, and much of the movie is laugh-out-loud funny, as well as all too real in terms of problems involving everything from immigration to love. Chinese Puzzle seems even more alive and energetic than the two preceding films – which is saying something, since the characters are now in their 40s. 

Despite its very sophisticated opening credit sequence, the movie has a homemade look that doubles as a kind of reality provider. And while Klapisch covers territory often trod, he manages to give it all his own special style and wisdom. Note how a porno magazine connects to life in what is certainly the most creative jack-off scene in a fertility clinic yet caught on film (more likely, these days, on video).

If this is indeed the best of the trilogy, this is as it should be (trilogies always should get better from film to film). Events here are off-the-cuff-real yet cleverly constructed for cohesion and a constant forward thrust. Best of all, Klapisch finds something solid and true within the messiness of modern life and love.

And don't  worry if you have not seen the earlier movies in the series. I think this one stands on its own quite nicely. Once viewed, however, it'll probably send you back to the two former films.

Chinese Puzzle -- from Cohen Media Group, in French and English, with English subtitles (as needed) and running 117 minutes -- hits New York City this Friday, May 16 (At the Angelika Film Center and Lincoln Plaza Cinema) and in the Los Angeles area on May 23 (at Laemmle's Playhouse 7 and Town Center 5). 

At FIAF, you can view a smart new French film -- CHINESE PUZZLE -- three weeks before release

One of our favorite French filmmakers, Cédric Klapisch, shown below, is back in town with the third in the trilogy that began with L'Auberge Espagnole, continued with Russian Dolls, and now finds his characters -- including those played by Romain Duris (at right, above and below) and Audrey Tautou (above, left, and bottom, right) -- at the 40-years-old mark in his newest chapter, CHINESE PUZZLE (Casse-tête chinois).

In some ways, Klapisch's trilogy is not unlike the "Before" series of Richard Linklater -- but French, rather than American; with only twelve instead of 18 years between first and third chapters; and a larger cast of main characters. I'll have a lot more to say about this film in the review I'll post during the week of its theatrical release (May 16); for now, I'll just mention that it's every bit as good as the earlier two -- maybe better -- and a wonderful addition to the story of Xavier Rousseau (played by M. Duris) and how he and his friends have grown and changed over the dozen years since this trilogy began.

The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF), New York’s premiere French cultural center, has scheduled a screening of both Chinese Puzzle and L'Auberge Espagnole this coming Tuesday, April 22, and is also thrilled to welcome director Klapisch and actors Duris and Pablo Mugnier-Jacob (above, center) for a special CinéSalon Sneak Preview of the new film (as well as one of the old ones). Chinese Puzzle, running 117 minutes, screens Tuesday, April 22 at 7:30pm in FIAF’s Florence Gould Hall, with L'Auberge Espagnole, 122 minutes, screening earlier at 4pm in the same venue.

For those who want to get a jump on critics and audiences, go to the FIAF site and reserve your tickets for Chinese Puzzle and the Q&A with filmmaker and actors by clicking  here -- and/or for L'Auberge Espagnole by clicking here. You can get directions to (and other info on) FIAF by clicking here.