Pratfalls and whimsy add charm to comedy 'Lost in Paris'

Brimming with invention and whimsy, “Lost in Paris” is a fun, feather-light comedy of missed connections and mistaken identity that showcases its director-stars, Fiona Gordon and Dominique Abel.

Gordon plays Fiona, a librarian from a small Canadian town — you know it’s Canada because the cold air blows everyone around when a door opens. Fiona gets a letter from her favorite aunt, Martha (Emmanuelle Riva), who moved to Paris decades earlier and is now resisting attempts to be put in a nursing home.

Fiona answers Martha’s cry for help by hopping on the first flight to Paris. There, she suffers a string of mishaps — capped by falling into the Seine and losing her backpack, and with it her passport and cash.

Enter Dom (played by Abel), a homeless bon vivant who lives by his wits on the walkways along the Seine. Dom fishes Fiona’s backpack out of the river, finds her purse and treats himself to a fancy dinner — in the same riverside restaurant where she is having dinner. He pulls her onto the dance floor, and the two perform a long-limbed tango together. (Physically, Gordon and Abel are perfectly matched, tall and gangly figures whose bodies undulate in harmony.)

Fiona soon realizes Dom has stolen her money and tries to get as far away from him as possible. But as she searches for Martha, who’s gone missing from her apartment, all roads lead back to the Seine and to Dom.

Abel, who is Belgian, and Gordon, an Australian-born Canadian, have been a couple professionally and personally for years, honing their peculiar brand of physical comedy on the stage and screen. Their gentle pratfalls and clever set pieces in “Lost in Paris” evoke moves by Charlie Chaplin and Jacques Tati, with a little circus magic for good measure.

It’s particularly enjoyable that the couple cajoled the usually serious Riva, in her first role after her Oscar-nominated turn in Michael Haneke’s “Amour,” to join in the fun. Riva, who died in January at age 89, shows great comic timing, whether hiding from her nurse in a laundromat or engaging in a little park-bench soft-shoe with an old love (played by the French star Pierre Richard).

If not for a bit of lascivious content toward the movie’s end, “Lost in Paris” could be an all-ages treat. As it is, it’s a happy-go-lucky lark, bridging language and cultural differences as Fiona and Dom bring out the best in each other.