`CHEF' A MISMATCH OF ROMANCE AND POLITICS.

Byline: Henry Sheehan Orange County Register

A Georgian curator preparing an art exhibit in Paris discovers the great romance of his mother's life in a pile of old manuscripts in ``A Chef in Love,'' a tragi-comic romance more notable for what it represents than what it actually presents on its own.

What the Franco-Georgian film represents is a new Europe of cross-border cooperation, one that requires a newly re-created past to go along with its present. What it presents is a series of well-worn romantic situations plopped down in exotic locales and historical circumstances.

The sense of romantic familiarity is underscored by the presence of French comic actor Pierre Richard in the lead role of chef Pascal Ichac. Richard achieved a measure of international success with a trio of hits in the 1970s and '80s, including ``The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe.'' But he's always been big in his native country, crafting a trademark persona based on a twitchy variation of the clumsy clown with a tender sensibility.

Ichac, though, is supposed to be a full-blooded, if larger than life, talent. Arriving in Georgia in 1920 - a then-independent nation on the Black Sea - he is charmed by the allure of the local cooking and lifestyle.

Taking up with the lovely, redheaded Princess Cecilia Abachidze (Nino Kirtadze), he opens a high-class restaurant, though not before undergoing various adventures, including saving the life of the country's president.

But he has barely achieved his idyllic aims when the country is convulsed by the Bolshevik revolution, one that puts a longtime enemy and long-distance lover of the Princess, Zigmund Gogoladze (Teimour Kahmhadze), in a position of power. Soon, all is in ruins.

Director Nana Djordjadze and screenwriter Irakli Kvirikadze clearly want their film to function as both a romance and a polemical statement. They're more successful at the former, whipping up combinations of lovely landscapes, traditional costumes and music, and ardent lovers into a picturesque brew. On the historical side, their conception of the villainous Zigmund, which extends to all his ilk, is far too coarse to retain much credibility.

Richard is a bit miscast, too. As always, he relies on a bag of gestural tricks to express emotion, a tactic at odds with the realistic, if romantically heightened, framework.

The movie almost overcomes these limitations. The curator, Anton, discovers the facts of the life of his mother, the princess, when he's approached by a now-age niece of Pascal's, Marcelle Ichac (Micheline Presle), who has a bundle of pictures, letters and manuscripts. An increasingly upset Anton pieces together the facts, but also by tying things up with a fragment of memory of his mother's death.

The painful discovery of the past, though, while seemingly the point of the movie, is contradicted by Anton's climactic action. It's clear that modern Europe is still puzzling its way through the past.

THE FACTS

The film: ``A Chef in Love'' (PG-13; brief scene of sexuality, adult material).

The stars: Pierre Richard, Nino Kirtadze, Jean-Yves Gautier.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Nana Djordjadze; screenplay by Irakli Kvirikadze.

Running time: One hour, 35 minutes.

Playing: Laemmle's Royal in West Los Angeles.

Our rating: Three Stars.

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Photo

Photo: Nino Kirtadze plays Princess Cecilia, with Pierre Richard as her lover, chef Pascal, in ``A Chef in Love.''