WHEN THE CAT’S AWAY

Cherchez la feline. When harried make-up artist Chloe departs her rather run-down Paris suburb for a much-needed vacation, she leaves her black cat Gris-Gris in the care of an elderly, eccentric animal lover. But on Chloe's return, Gris-Gris is gone gone, and nobody seems to know where. Chloe forms an ersatz search party, following leads and going door-to-door in search of her pet, and in the process meets neighbors she never knew she had and comes to view her corner of the world through fresh and bemused eyes. This has been a pretty good couple of weeks for cats, what with “Whiskers” in our Family Film Fest, some memorable cats in the Pre-Feature Shorts, and of ourse Maggie Cheung's costume in “Irma Vep.” But Gris-Gris stays offscreen most of the time in WHEN THE CAT'S AWAY, graciously ceding the spotlight to Paris itself, its quaint arrondissements, little mysteries, and idiosyncratic natives. Much of the plot was improvised, mingling professional actors with local residents. “The film was actually created almost like a jazz piece,” writes C?dric Klapisch. “We had some preliminary ideas in our heads and the aim was just to start, to keep playing,a nd let things fall into place along the way.” The result ia fetching and felicitous comedy which closes the CIFF on a purr-fect note. (In French with English subtitles) – Charles Cassady