There's quite an invasion of French cinema these days.

First there was the enchanting Amelie.

Fast on its heels comes The Taste of Others, a witty, wry examination of what happens when opposites attract.

Written, directed and starring husband-and-wife team Agnes Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri, Taste takes its time engaging its audience.

The first 20 minutes seem to meander aimlessly, but that's a ruse. Jaoui and Bacri dispense a great deal of essential information about their characters.

Castella (Bacri) is a wealthy, bored, successful businessman.

His wife Angelique (Christianne Millet) not only decorates their house, but runs it.

She decides what Castella should eat, wear and think.

It's the same at work where Castella's adviser Weber (Xavier De Guillebon) makes most of the decisions on the big deal Castella is negotiating with an Iranian buyer.

Castella has a chauffeur Deschamps (Alain Chabat) and a bodyguard Moreno (Gerard Lanvin), so he has as little privacy as he does enjoyment and satisfaction.

All that changes when Castella sees Clara (Anne Alvaro) in a play. He is instantly smitten by her and begins pursuing her.

Fortunately, she has been hired to teach him English.

At first, Clara despises Castella because he is so bourgeois, but eventually she sees he is precisely the kind of man she needs in her life.

Meanwhile, both Deschamps and Moreno begin having affairs with Manie (Jaoui), the promiscuous barmaid at the theatre bar.

Hearts are bound to be broken as all these worlds collide.

The writing is so clever and astute and the performances so natural, it's difficult not to start caring about what happens to each of these people.

Jaoui and Bacri show how naive men can be when it comes to relationships and how easily and permanently they can be hurt.

Ultimately, the three men in The Taste of Others are just as vulnerable as the three women.

Some of the best moments are when the camera catches Bacri, Chabat and Lanvin's reactions to each other and their surroundings as they visit a strip bar.

They are all hurting for their own reasons and want to discuss their feelings, but don't know how to.

The Taste of Others is reminiscent of the great existential French cinema of the the '60s that showed the futility and frailty of human connections and the danger of trying to overcome one's loneliness and alienation.

The genius of The Taste of Others is that it can find so much humour in such a tragic view.

(This film is rated AA)

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