Romuald et Juliette

Coline Serreau's last film inspired (if that is the word) Three Men and a Baby, and this one also looks a likely candidate for an American remake. Despite the title, there's little here Shakespeare would recognise, with the star-crossed romance a long time coming. Instead, Serreau builds up a complicated situation involving insider dealing at Romuald's yoghurt company. Ousted and cuckolded, Romuald (Auteil) finds himself with only one friend in the world, the company's black cleaning-woman Juliette (Richard, splendid). Together, they plot to put him back at the top; in the meantime, he hides out in Juliette's cramped, broken-down apartment with her five children. Cross-cutting between the life-styles of rich and poor (or of whites and blacks), Serreau makes her points implicitly, but also fashions a surprisingly generous, romantic movie in which everyone has the right to follow his or her heart. Spirited performances and some fine blues on the soundtrack help to make this warm comedy a real pleasure.