made in paris; Avenue Montaigne follows a young woman searching for fame in the City of Light.(The Lives of Others )(Movie review)

There is but one Paris," exulted van Gogh in one of his cheerier moods. The city's magic shines brightly in Avenue Montaigne, a good-humored fairy tale about life waltzing with art. French star Cecile de France plays Jessica, a young arrival from the provinces whose main resource is her pixie innocence-she could be Amelie's blonde sister. Raised on her grandmother's dreams of luxury, she wangles a waitressing job at a cafe on the supremely chic Avenue Montaigne, and soon gets involved with the patrons. There's a concert pianist (Albert Dupontel) who feels suffocated by his posh surroundings; a popular TV actress (Valerie Lemercier) rehearsing a Feydeau farce but yearning to play Simone de Beauvoir; and a self-made millionaire (Claude Brasseur) with a young mistress, a priceless art collection he's about to auction off, and a priggish son (Christopher Thompson) who's drawn to Jessica.

Director Daniele Thompson, who wrote such international hits as Cousin Cousine, specializes in sleek, literate entertainments about the thrills and ...