“Russian Dolls,” a name signifying layers of relationships peeled away in discovery just as one keeps getting yet another doll inside of a large Russian doll, is very entertaining on many counts. First, Klapisch is extremely creative in the manner of his filming. There is freshness in his rapid-fire use of editing and cinematic asides, bursts of imagination and friskiness that begins from the opening credits and continues throughout. The central figure, Xavier, played by the very contemporary type French star Romain Duris, is a writer struggling to create art but having to descend to commercial television fluff, some of it subjected to very funny satire. One example of the director’s creativity is that when Xavier has to pitch an idea, while he is seated at a desk, another figure of him is seen playing a flute and dancing around to symbolize such pitching. It reminds one of how movie ideas are sold in Hollywood.

Klapisch’s free-wheeling style is appropriate for the lives under the microscope. There is Martine, with whom Xavier has had a relationship and continues civility. She’s played by Audrey Tautou as self-absorbed and looking for her prince charming, but also committed to doing something about the environment. (In foreign films young people may tend to talk about more substantive things than characters do in American films about relationships.) Xavier also has a lesbian friend, Isabelle, delightfully played by Cécile De France, especially in a scene where she does him a big favor, substituting a dress for her usual casuals, and pretending to be his fiancée so he can fool his elderly grandfather into thinking he has one.

There is William, spiritedly played by Kevin Bishop, who falls in love with a Russian ballet dancer, Natacha, portrayed by the lovely Evguenia Obraztsova. A favorite of mine is Kelly Reilly as Wendy, Williams’ sister. The actress is beautiful and fascinating, as was the case when she appeared as one of the showgirls in “Mrs. Henderson Presents” and in the entirely different kind of role as Caroline Bingley in “Pride and Prejudice.” Here she is foundering as a woman seeking the right man and giving her heart to Xavier, who still tends to play the field when opportunity knocks, as it does when he is assigned to ghost write a book for a hot but flighty famous model, played by Lucy Gordon.

Klapisch not only deftly spins us into this contemporary world, but he also takes cognizance of an older generation by looking at the life of Xavier’s mother and her new friend, and the squabbling parents of William and Wendy. In addition to all of the above, the film becomes a tempting travelogue, flitting back and forth between London and Paris, and venturing to St. Petersburg for a wedding.