Maybe predictable is beside the point. After all, "Twice Upon a Time" ("Desaccord Parfait" in French) is hailed as a tribute to the classic Hollywood romance films of yore.

You know the ones they mean. Think Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant or Carole Lombard and John Barrymore. This 2006 French version written and directed by Antoine de Caunes -- however, stars Charlotte Rampling and Jean Rochefort as two former lovers reunited.

Rampling is Alice d'Abanville, a British actress who became famous in films, especially the films she made in the 1970s with French director Louis Ruinard -- played by Rochefort -- but now doing experimental theater and Shakespeare.

She is a beloved celebrity in London, where she lives with her rich husband, Lord Evelyn Gaylord (Ian Richardson) and their son Paul (James Thierree) on a large estate outside the city.

Ruinard is in London to accept a lifetime achievement award for his film work and d'Abanville is enlisted to present it, despite their less than amicable parting 30 years earlier.

As expected, she's doing it grudgingly and perhaps with a motive. Ruinard, on the other hand, has never understood by Alice left him suddenly and still carries a torch.

Alice seems happy as can be in her life on stage and at home with her loving husband and talented son, who is in finance by day and a painter by night. What she's apparently unhappy about is the fact that Louis has resurfaced in her life.

But like the boy who pulls the hair of his schoolyard crush, perhaps Alice's vitriol masks a lingering passion for Louis. Only time will tell.

Even more importantly, however, their "reunion" brings other questions to the fore. But those you'll have to discover for yourself when you see the film or we risk spoiling it for everyone.

De Caunes' film is funny, light-hearted, charming and entirely predictable in almost every way.

The casting, of course, is impeccable and, in the end, "Twice Upon a Time" makes for 92 minutes of enjoyable film watching. Just remember that although it is a French film, it feels entirely American.