Alain Resnais' (Hiroshima mon amour, Last Year at Marienbad) deceptively light, bouncy film borrows a device from British dramatist Dennis Potter: Faced with a difficult situation or dredging up a repressed desire, the characters break into snatches of popular songs, lip-synching to the original recordings. The effect is often hilarious, as bits of Johnny Halliday and Maurice Chevalier interrupt earnest conversations, but Resnais is also suggesting that our thoughts and feelings are shaped to an uncomfortable degree by the conventions of popular culture we've unconsciously absorbed. Written by and starring the comedy team of Agnès Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri, the script brings together six variously amorous and adulterous characters against a background of Parisian real estate speculation.-Dave Kehr