Dangerous liaisons with good intentions: The matchmaking games in Emmanuel Mouret's romantic comedy "Shall We Kiss?" may backfire, but nobody is seriously hurt. The players in this mouth-watering Gallic souffl are so attractive, well-mannered and comfortably grounded in the bourgeois world that you needn't fear for their well-being, minor heartaches notwithstanding.

Concocted by Mr. Mouret ("Change of Address"), who likes to appear in his own films (he suggests Woody Allen as a lost puppy), "Shall We Kiss?" could have come only from France, a country whose movies would have you believe that most people over 16 are well dressed, cultured and sophisticated without being jaded.

It begins in Nantes with a chance meeting of two beautiful strangers: Gabriel (Michal Cohen), a local furniture restorer, and milie (Julie Gayet), a fabric designer in town on a business trip from Paris. He offers her a ride, which leads to a romantic dinner, at the end of which hovers a delicious question: whether to seal their enchanted evening with a farewell kiss or to leave each other wondering, What if?

milie, who is happily partnered but tempted, balks and begins to tell the cautionary tale of two acquaintances, Judith (Virginie Ledoyen) and Nicolas (Mr. Mouret), that makes up the heart of this movie-within-a-movie.

Best friends since high school who have always confided their deepest secrets, Nicolas, a math teacher, and Judith, a laboratory researcher, act like grown-up children when they're together.

The relationship reaches a crossroads when Nicolas, in despair for lack of physical intimacy since a recent breakup, entreats Judith, who lives comfortably with Claudio (Stefano Accorsi), to bring him back to life by being his sexual surrogate.

Devoted pal that she is, Judith agrees - after he reports that even a visit to a prostitute didn't help, because the date fizzled when the woman refused to kiss. The friends' first tentative touching of lips recalls the moment in a science fiction movie when a male earthling bestows a kiss on a mystified alien and awakens strange sensations.

"Shall We Kiss?" has the formality of a modern bedroom farce, without slammed doors or raised voices or people running frantically in and out of closets. Now and again, the movie returns to Gabriel and milie, who have come to her hotel room in the early hours of morning.

Will they surrender to a wordless embrace that might or might not change their lives? Or is the story of Nicolas and Judith sufficient warning to keep them at arm's length? I'm not telling.