The second installment in Lucas Belvaux's The Trilogy, a densely interconnected series of genre films that take place within the same time frame, An Amazing Couple relieves the tension of On The Run with a breezy, well-constructed farce. The film starts with the whitest of white lies and the action unravels from there, gaining comic momentum from overheard conversations, unwarranted suspicions, and wild misunderstandings. If On The Run left any doubts over Belvaux's genre mastery, then An Amazing Couple should extinguish them swiftly, with a plot that comes close to the crystalline perfection of La Cage Aux Folles. But paradoxically, perfection may be the film's chief flaw: With their obsessive i-dotting and t-crossing, Belvaux's whirligig theatrics seem a little bloodless, more to be admired than loved. Just when The Trilogy should be gaining in cumulative resonance, heading into the closing melodrama After Life, it's starting to feel too much like an exercise, designed to show off Belvaux's considerable flair for narrative. All the elements click beautifully into place, but the mechanics are laid bare, squeezing some of the spontaneity and joy out of an otherwise graceful comedy. As in On The Run, minor characters become major characters (and vice versa), and a few scenes are thrillingly recontexualized when viewed from another angle. The Gallic equivalent to Woody Allen in Hannah And Her Sisters, François Morel stars as an intensely neurotic hypochondriac who's convinced he's going to die from a simple operation. When his morose wanderings after the doctor's appointment cause him to be late to a surprise birthday party, Morel lies to his wife Ornella Muti about getting into an accident and covers his tracks by smashing his Jaguar with a hammer. Suspicious that he's having an affair, Muti recruits troubled cop Gilbert Melki to follow her husband and tap their phone, but Melki develops feelings for her in the process, prompting a whole new set of suspicions from Morel. As Morel and Muti eye each other for infidelity, the audience gets a bird's-eye view of the whole crazy affair, which could all be resolved by a simple, frank conversation between the two. By design, An Amazing Couple isn't quite as satisfying as a standalone work as On The Run, because Belvaux occasionally interrupts the flow by fitting new pieces into the trilogy's larger puzzle. But even those who haven't followed the cycle can appreciate the delightful curlicues of logic and the hilarious running jokes, such as Morel dictating a new will after every perceived betrayal by his wife. It's rare for a comedy to be as fully worked-out and exquisitely timed as An Amazing Couple; just don't expect to warm to it.