Starring Fabrice Luchini and Roschdy Zem. In French with English subtitles. Rated 14A.

The sad thing is, this could have been a pretty good movie if only writer-director Anne Fontaine had decided what she wanted it to be. To summarize briefly, The Girl From Monaco begins as a romantic comedy, then mutates into a romantic thriller which segues into a possible murder mystery prior to concluding as one of those uniquely French dramas dealing with special friendships between men predicated on low-key misogyny rather than latent homosexuality. Instead of resulting in a rich impaglio of meaning, this constant shifting of generic gears creates four cases of arrested cinematic development.

The hero of the piece is Bertrand Beauvois (Fabrice Luchini), a famously eloquent Parisian lawyer who travels to Monaco to defend a woman (Claude Chabrol veteran Stéphane Audran) accused of murdering her much younger Russian lover. Because of possible mob involvement in the case, Beauvois is saddled with Christophe Abadi (Roschdy Zem), an unwanted bodyguard, who is supposed to keep the lawyer out of all sorts of trouble.

As things turn out, the biggest danger this buttoned-down advocate must face is Audrey Varella (Louise Bourgoin), a voluptuous TV weather reporter who pursues Beauvois for reasons unknown. Having previously slept with Varella (something which every other male in the principality appears to have done as well), Abadi is highly suspicious of her motives. Eventually, he must decide where his real duty lies.

Anne Fontaine (who previously made the superb How I Killed My Father) directs these proceedings with an excessively light touch. Sometimes filo pastry is absolutely delicious. Here, however, it just flakes away into thin air.