Set in a pre-WWI Paris that wouldn't look out of place as a wedding cake, Ch((eacute))ri tells the story of a wealthy middle-aged courtesan (Pfeiffer), who after years of honest toil in her profession, for the first time falls in love with a client (Friend), a callow, unpromising, but to her adorably helpless young man she calls Ch((eacute))ri. (We never know him by any other name.) In his rather offhand way he falls in love with her, too, but he's never quite sure if he's her lover or simply sponging off her - probably a bit of both. They have six years together - a good run all things considered - and both realise more keenly what they had, when they lose it.

It's good to see Michelle Pfeiffer looking more like a human being than she has for some time, and less like an embalmed Gelfling; and it's even better to see her playing a human being. Her touching portrayal of someone at once wistful, romantic and practical carries the film more than anything else. I won't lie to you: enjoyable though this is to watch, it's a little on the bland side - which is only to say the story feels as though it should move us a little more than it in fact does. But perhaps this isn't always a bad thing.

"On September 3rd 1973, at 6:28pm and 32 seconds, a bluebottle fly capable of 14,670 wing beats a minute landed on Rue St Vincent, Montmartre. At the same moment, on a restaurant terrace nearby, the wind magically made two glasses dance unseen on a tablecloth. Meanwhile, in a 5th-floor flat, 28 Avenue Trudaine, Paris 9, returning from his best friend's funeral, Eug((eacute))ne Col((eacute))re erased his name from his address book. At the same moment, a sperm with one X chromosome, belonging to Raphaël Poulain, made a dash for an egg in his wife Amandine. Nine months later, Am((eacute))lie Poulain was born."

These are the opening words to Le Fabuleux Destin d'Am((eacute))lie Poulain, or Am((eacute))lie as it's more generally known, and they set the scene for a wondrously romantic story set in a daydream version of Paris. The film and character have divided most people into either the "I adore her" camp (most men fall here), or the "I can't stand her" tribe. Me, I'm firmly in the former, as I definitely fell hard for her charms. Sure, she's a fantasy figure, but the women have Mr. Darcy from "Pride and Prejudice" and he's certainly no more real than Am((eacute))lie is, so I don't care!

If you've missed out on the charms of Am((eacute))lie so far, make sure this date is in your PDA [I have an iPhone ((ndash)) Ed], as I'm guessing you won't regret it (and if you do regret it, then you're such a sourpuss that I don't want to know!)