The Manhattan reference will immediately alert potential audiences to a Woody Allen connection. And, it is more than a connection.

Allen’s presence and quotations from his films pervade the film and the consciousness of its main character, Alice. She shows us how she was influenced by his movies as a girl. As an adult she goes to see his movies again and again, and converses in her imagination with him.

Alice is a loner. She is awkward in relationships. This does stretch our credulity more than a little because actress Alice Taglioni, who plays the part, is one of the most attractive of French stars we are likely to see on the screen!

We follow Alice clashing with her married sister, and pestered by her father as to why she is not married. At parties, she is awkward. After leaving one, she finds herself chatting to Victor (Patrick Bruel), an ordinary kind of man who installs security devices, including in her father’s house.

We know that the two are destined for love, despite Alice’s ultra-resistance and the fact that Victor does not know Woody Allen’s films – though he finally more than makes up for this.

This means that there are some entertaining moments between Alice and Victor as they take each other for granted, though he is really entranced by her, and eventually, with the help of Woody Allen, Alice’s eyes are opened and she realises where her life should be going.

It is easy to say that this is just another French romantic soufflé, but this one has some good things going for it. - Fr Peter Malone MSC, Australian Catholic Office for Film & Broadcasting.

Starring Alice Taglioni, Patrick Bruel and Marine Delterme. Directed by Sophie Lellouche. 77 minutes. Rated PG (mild coarse language and themes).

Paris Manhattan