Stephen Frears’ lushly romantic adaptation of the novels about Cheri by Colette is an immensely entertaining portrait of love bought, found and lost among the rarefied courtesan circle of the Belle Époque. Lea de Lonval (a radiant Michelle Pfeiffer) visits retired courtesan Charlotte Peloux (a pitchperfect Kathy Bates) for tea and barbed gossip, and encounters her indolent but pleasure-loving young son. Before you can say ‘combustible chemistry’, the two have run off for a fling that marks the beginning of a gloriously abandoned affair. Along with Darius Khondji’s coloursaturated cinematography, Consolata Boyle’s exquisite costumes, and Alexandre Desplat’s nostalgically sweeping score, Chéri is permeated with a combination of fin de siècle decadence and dry wit that is supremely hard to resist.