The Russian Dolls

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This page is about the film, The Russian Dolls. For the toy doll see Matryoshka doll.

The Russian Dolls (French: Les Poupées russes) is a 2005 French-British film directed by Cédric Klapisch. It is a romantic comedy and the sequel to The Spanish Apartment (2002) starring among others Romain Duris (Xavier), Audrey Tautou (Martine), Kelly Reilly (Wendy), Lucy Gordon (Celia) and Kevin Bishop (William). The movie swaps between Paris, London, Saint Petersburg and, briefly, Moscow.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

L'Auberge Espagnole ended with Xavier (Duris) finally becoming a writer and giving up his nine-to-five job. The story continues with Xavier still looking for the perfect woman five years after the student group of Spain moved their own way. In this time, he and Martine split up, and Martine has had a child. For financial reasons, Xavier becomes a writer for pulp romantic novels and a ghostwriter for celebrities who can't write their own biographies. Martine criticizes his pulp novel work as being unrealistic and corny. Xavier feels just the same about this, but only replies to her that he earns good money. In his job as romantic novelist he meets up again with a girl he knew from his year in Spain, Wendy (Reilly), an accomplished writer herself. In his other job, his most exciting biography to be ghostwritten is that of Celia (Gordon), a model. Romance and passion ensue between Xavier and Celia while they are looking at the boats on the River Seine. Xavier commutes between Paris and London to write a romantic television series with Wendy. He falls in love with her while having an affair with Celia.