The good news for broke American Mathias Gold (Kevin Kline) is that he has inherited an immensely valuable apartment in Paris. The bad, which he doesn’t learn until he arrives to sell it, is that, according to an obscure French real estate law, the 92-year-old woman who lives there (Maggie Smith) must be allowed to stay until she dies, and on top of that, he has to pay her and her middle-aged daughter (Kristin Scott Thomas) monthly rent.

While it’s worth catching to watch these pros in action, be warned that the film is tonally uneven, shifting clumsily from light comedy to angst-ridden melodrama. Japanese title: Pari Sanku no Isan Sozokunin. (107 min)