The New Girlfriend

“"David" (Romain Duris) is married to "Laura" (Isild Le Besco) and they are best pals with "Claire" (Anaïs Demoustier) and her husband "Gilles" (Raphaël Personnaz). All is going along nicely until a tragedy strikes poor old "David". The kindly "Claire" comes to visit him and his newborn baby "Lucie" and boy does she get a surprise! What now ensues is a little reminiscent of "Tootsie" (1982) as "Virginia" starts to emerge onto the scene and with the help of a somewhat perplexed "Claire" as his new best friend/life coach embarks on quite a journey that provides for some self-discovery all round. It does run out of steam a little towards the end when the comedy elements start to become subsumed into an increasingly contrived plot that doesn't quite seem to know how it wants to end, but an engaged Duris is clearly having some fun with the part and there's a gently effective swipe at sexual stereotypes and restrictive definitions that keeps it entertaining for the most part. Remember - left eye left hand, right eye right hand....!”