''Chinese Puzzle'' () is a 2013 romantic

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film written and directed by

Cédric Klapisch Cédric Klapisch ( ; born 4 September 1961) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. Life and career Klapisch was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine. He is from a Jewish family; his maternal grandparents were deported to ...

. It is the third and final instalment in the "Spanish Apartment" trilogy, following '' L'Auberge espagnole'' (2002) and '' Russian Dolls'' (2005). The film had its world premiere at the 2013

Angoulême Francophone Film Festival The Angoulême Francophone Film Festival (, FFA) is an annual film festival held in Angoulême, France. It was founded by Dominique Besnehard in 2008 and has been held every year in December. It was launched as a showcase for all kind of francophon ...

. It was released theatrically in France on 4 December 2013 by

StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., and Canal+ Production and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film & television production and distribution company which is a ...

and in Belgium on 11 December 2013 by Cinéart.

Plot

After 10 years of marriage, the once-happy lovers Xavier Rousseau and Wendy separate. When she moves with their two children, Tom and Mia, to New York City, he also moves there to be near the children. While Wendy lives with her new boyfriend John, a wealthy American, in a luxury apartment overlooking

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

, Xavier initially stays with his lesbian Belgian friend Isabelle (who is pregnant thanks to a sperm donation from Xavier) and her Chinese-American girlfriend Ju in their Brooklyn loft. He soon moves into Ju's former apartment in

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

. Struggling to finish his latest novel about the complications of life, titled ''Chinese Puzzle'', Xavier is assisted by brief visions of

Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( ; ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the Phenomenon, phenomenal world as ...

and

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political philosophy and t ...

. He regularly discusses his novel with his Paris-based editor over

Skype Skype () was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, ...

sessions, often lying about his progress. Staying on a tourist visa, Xavier is advised by his lawyer to seek illegal employment and marry for a green card. After rescuing a cab driver from a road-rage incident, the grateful driver agrees to have Xavier marry his Chinese-American niece, Nancy, who is amenable and complicit. However, the immigration official interviewing Xavier and Nancy is not entirely convinced of the legitimacy of their marriage. Meanwhile, Xavier's French ex-girlfriend, Martine, visits him while on a business trip and returns a second time with her own two children on

spring break Spring break is a vacation period at universities and schools that includes the Easter holiday, and takes place in early Northern Hemisphere spring. Introduced in the U.S. during the 1930s, spring break has been observed in Europe since t ...

. Xavier and Martine briefly attempt to rekindle their relationship. Sometime after giving birth, Isabelle reveals to Xavier that she has been cheating on Ju with their newly hired Belgian babysitter, also named Isabelle. Although stunned by Isabelle's confession, Xavier allows her to use his apartment for a tryst with her namesake one day. Shortly afterwards, Ju calls to inform Xavier that immigration officials will conduct a surprise inspection of his apartment in half an hour, telling him to meet her there. Just before Ju arrives at the apartment, Xavier rushes over in time and urges the two Isabelles to sneak out the window. Xavier and the arriving Nancy successfully convince the immigration officials that they live together in the apartment. As Martine sets out to return to Paris with her children, Xavier races to her shuttle bus, confesses his love, and asks her to stay and live with him. She agrees, and they kiss. During a video call with Xavier, his editor criticises his finished novel's happy ending. While Martine chafes at the editor's remarks, Xavier explains that "when you find happiness, there's nothing more to say." When the editor asks if he is referring to life or the novel, Xavier and Martine simply smile. Xavier, Martine and their respective children, along with Isabelle, Ju and Nancy, happily walk in a celebratory parade down a Chinatown street.

Cast

Reception

The film garnered favourable reviews. On the

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website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 79% based on 67 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Pleasantly easygoing and consistently funny, ''Chinese Puzzle'' offers a suitably endearing conclusion to Cédric Klapisch's Trilogy of Xavier."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, assigned the film a score of 64 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. The film was nominated for Best Music Written for a Film at the

39th César Awards The 39th Annual César Awards ceremony, presented by the French Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques (Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma), was held on 28 February 2014, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. '' Me, Myself and Mum'' r ...

, and came second for the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at the 57th

San Francisco International Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by SFFILM, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in international film and vid ...

References

External links

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Official US website
at Cohen Media Group () {{DEFAULTSORT:Chinese Puzzle 2013 films 2013 LGBTQ-related films 2013 multilingual films 2013 romantic comedy-drama films 2010s Belgian films 2010s English-language films 2010s French films 2010s French-language films Belgian LGBTQ-related films Belgian multilingual films Belgian romantic comedy-drama films English-language Belgian films English-language French films English-language romantic comedy-drama films Films about divorce Films about immigration to the United States Films about sham marriage Films about writers Films directed by Cédric Klapisch Films shot in New York City France 2 Cinéma films French films set in New York City French LGBTQ-related films French multilingual films French romantic comedy-drama films French sequel films French-language Belgian films Lesbian-related films LGBTQ-related romantic comedy-drama films StudioCanal films