I love it when people get away with ********* - Happy ending?

I was going to come on here and post about exactly the same thing but it looks like you beat me to it! I agree wholeheartedly that while the main characters "won" in concealing Isabelle's infidelity from Ju, it was not a happy ending. Isabelle will not feel the consequences of her actions, and gets away scott free. She probably discarded the younger Isabelle, who is quite likely hurt and confused by what has happened. This seems to be a thing with these people-- all working together in harmony to deceive good and unsuspecting people, like Wendy's former boyfriend Alistair. Speaking of which, Wendy was revealed as a cheater in the first film, so should it be any surprise that such behavior would end her relationship with Xavier as well? Worst of all, Xavier's son gets in on the action and shows that he has a future of being a deceiver like his parents.

I haven't even gotten to the part where they do the "safe" ending with Xavier getting back with Martine. She was shown to be awful in the first two films, didn't he get the message?

[deleted]

I guess they find 'true love' after going through several mishaps..

AKA KELLYREILLYFANS ON TWITTER

I agree with you on part. Personally, I loved the first two films, and was eager to see them reunited again. However, I have to say that what Isabelle did, left me with a bad after taste. Seeing no remorse on her part and no repercussions was a bit disheartening. I didn't realize that character was so hollow. It did seem like a forced 'allegedly' happy ending. Xavier ending up with Martine...*eye roll* desperation at its best.

*SPOILERS*

Isabelle came across very poorly to me toward the end. I lost respect for her. The thing that bothered me even more than her tryst with the other Isabelle was that she left her child to go to that tryst. Yes, the baby was in safe hands, but it still came across as a woman who couldn't control her urges no matter what and instead of thinking of what her child needed, she was plotting and planning when and how she could be alone with her lover. Then there's the whole Ju angle that makes it even worse.

I didn't like the ending. Xavier was right when he said there was no spark with Martine--that they would be warmed over to try a romance again. I saw nothing that occurred in the plot or their characters that suggested a spark had ignited despite that line he delivers at the very end (Romain Duris can play a spark quite well. Watch Populaire and Heartbreaker to see proof. So this movie didn't cut it despite what he said). I think it was how her kids interacted with his kids that swayed him. It was after Mia and Tom said her kids were sad to leave that he went after her.

I must be honest that I fully expected a true romance to blossom between Xavier and Nancy. Now that would've been cliche and predictable, yes, but I think it would've completely worked. When the three women were at the subway discussing what kind of woman Xavier needed, I thought they were moving in that direction because Nancy seemed to possess all the qualities they cited. She was demure yet tough clearly after dealing with INS.

The ending left me blah which is a shame because Chinese Puzzle is my favorite movie of the three. I loved the progression through the three films to the world-weary, beaten down, somewhat tired Xavier. I'm not saying I'm glad about that, but that the director did a great job showing the essence of a person's decade--the exuberant optimism with few problems of the 20's, the waning optimism with life ever-so-slowly creeping in of the 30's, and the all-out assault by the world and life on the psyche in the 40's.