In part two, I continue on with romantic films set in France. Hope you still have some of those croissants and champagne left!

French Kiss (1995)
Meg Ryan stars in this romance-comedy about a woman who flies to Paris to win back her straying fiancé. It must be love because Kate (Ryan) is afraid of flying. On the plane she meets Luc (Kevin Kline) who develops an unexpected attraction… to her luggage. Gee, I wonder why. Could it have something to do with the fact that Luc’s a jewel thief with a “hot” necklace? Then Kate’s bag is stolen and both of them must traipse the French countryside to find it, for very different reasons of course.

Chocolat (2000)
Chocolate lovers beware! Be sure to stock up before watching this movie or you’ll be drooling a river watching Juliette Binoche whipping up her goodies! In a rural French village, single mom Vianne (Binoche) sets up a chocolate shop that’s opposed by the straitlaced morality-minded mayor (Alfred Molina). But there’s something magical about Vianne’s sweets, the villagers find. Love, in the form of Johnny Depp, drifts into Vianne’s shop and heart. A feelgood movie.

Moulin Rouge! (2001)
This amazing musical stars Ewan McGregor as the struggling writer who succumbs to nightclub singer Nicole Kidman’s charms. Alas, Satine (Kidman) is also a courtesan whose charms are being counted on to lure a rich duke as an investor in the Moulin Rouge. She literally can’t afford to fall in love but she does anyway. But more than the Moulin Rouge’s decadence and the Duke’s jealousy threaten Christian and Satine’s love. The singing and dancing are fabulous, the sets fantastical (and the corsets worn apparently painful for the actresses). A nominee for Best Picture. (In case you’re wondering, “A Beautiful Mind”, with Russell Crowe, took the Oscar instead.)

A Good Year (2006)
And speaking of Russell Crowe… he plays the self-centred broker who inherits by default his late uncle’s rundown winery in Provence. Max has no interest in wine (beyond drinking it, one supposes). His sole aim is to find a buyer for the estate and return to the hustle and bustle of London. Then a girl claiming to be the uncle’s illegitimate daughter throws a monkey wrench into Max’s plans. So does Cupid. Ridley Scott also directed Crowe in two other very different movies: “American Gangster” (2007) and the Oscar winning Best Picture “Gladiator” (2000). Are you not entertained?