True-crime magazine editor Pauline Astruc (Sandrine Kiberlain) seems like a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Not only did her boyfriend break up with her, but her sister Jeanne (Audrey Lamy) dragged her into going on vacation at a crowded resort — it’s so crowded that Pauline has a roommate. A very nosy roommate, Mademoiselle Blanchot (Michèle Moretti), who will interrogate Pauline about her love life, drive her literally to drink, and suddenly, suspiciously, disappear.

Life imitates work for Pauline sometimes, and she is convinced La Blanchot must have been murdered. Like a chic young Jessica Fletcher, or a 21st-century Torchy Blane, she’s on the case, snooping around while doing her best to conceal her efforts from her sister and brother-in-law Wilfried (Antoine Chappey). She enlists the reluctant assistance of Simone (Claudio Santamaria), the gruff and buff guy who works at the resort. Of course, they meet cute, and they can’t stand each other at first. It becomes apparent, though, that there is something to Pauline’s supposedly neurotic imaginings…Mademoiselle Blanchot is dead. That’s all I’m going to say, because you might not see where this is going, and I don’t want to spoil anything.

Think Almodóvar meets “Murder, She Wrote” in a screwball comedy at the beach. The story breezes along with snappy dialogue and clever insights into Pauline’s mind. As sisters Pauline and Jeanne, Kiberlain and Lamy have a easy bickering chemistry, as do Kiberlain and Santamaria, and Chappey steals a few scenes as the husband who can’t get a word in edgewise (his first line comes 11 minutes into the film).

It is true, Pauline dètective won’t change your life, but it will lift your mood. As noted in a review in Le Parisien, “This film has no other pretension than to entertain, and that it does very well.”

Starts Fri, Jan. 31: 7:30, 9:30 p.m.
Sat, Feb. 01: 5:00, 7:30, 9:30 p.m.
Sun, Feb. 02: 4:30, 7:00 p.m.
Thurs, Feb. 06: 7:30 p.m.