The final collaboration between Jhabvala, Ivory, and producer Ismail Merchant explores family ties as they get snarled with manners and mores. American-in-Paris Naomi Watts is expecting a second child with Melvil Poupaud but then he walks out; stepsister Kate Hudson flies in from America to lend support, only to fall for married smooth talker Thierry Lhermitte. The très bon cast includes Leslie Caron, Romain Duris, Jean-Marc Barr, and Nathalie Richard.