Delicacy Blu-ray Review
Beauty and the Beast.
Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, September 25, 2012
Delicacy is an appropriately delicate examination of what happens when "happily ever after" suddenly takes a
detour into unexpected tragedy. The winsome Audrey Tautou portrays Nathalie, a woman we initially meet in a Paris
bistro as she peruses a menu and a François (Pio Marmai), a young man who is narrating the film (at least in the
beginning), wonders what she'll order. He correctly guesses apricot juice, and then we segue into a celebration of the
burgeoning relationship between the two. Everything seems to be going swimmingly for the pair, who quickly marry
and settle into a life of domestic bliss, a rose colored reality that is suddenly shattered when François is killed by a car
while out jogging one afternoon. The opening few minutes of
Delicacy are therefore a breathless trek through
emotional territory that some films take their entire lengths developing. The film trades on a sort of
Amélie-esque ambience (obviously no
coincidence, considering Tatou's involvement), with playful camera moves and a montage that features a series of
photos from around the world (where that "roaming gnome" when you
really need him?), and culminating in a
little set piece when Nathalie finds herself at her young husband's grave. Some prescient (and/or overly cynical)
viewers may be wondering, "Is
Delicacy going to be 'Jean-Pierre Jeunet lite'?" But Stéphane Foenkinos,
co-directing a screenplay written by his brother David (culled from his novel), who joins his brother in the directorial
duties as well, tones down the tricks after this opening
gambit and instead settles on the aftermath of Nathalie's devastating loss. Will this beautiful young widow allow
herself to love again? Once that question is answered, a perhaps more salient question arises: is Nathalie out of her
ever loving mind?
Have you ever seen an attractive woman with a downright
shlub (technical term) of a guy and wondered, "How
the heck did she end up with
him?" That's pretty much the running gag in
Delicacy, one that seems
almost
cartoonish since François, Nathalie's doomed husband, is just this side of being a Greek God. When you've supped (so
to
speak) with Divinity, why would you settle for a mere mortal?
Delicacy never really effectively answers that
question, hinting that Nathalie is suffering from her own version of post traumatic stress disorder, a syndrome that has
her moving through her life cut off from her own emotions, zombiefied, perhaps out of a survival mechanism. How
could one face losing a husband that incredibly perfect?
And yet, there is Nathalie, moving as almost in a trance, toward Markus (François Damiens), a goofy looking coworker
who would make a merely disheveled individual look like something out of a
haute couture catalog by
comparison with his rumpled appearance. And that's only his
clothes. If Nathalie's deceased husband was the
very model of masculine beauty, Markus is like the missing link between humans and werewolves. But Nathalie doesn't
just walk up to Markus one day—she just moves in and plants about the most erotic kiss you've ever seen right on the
startled gentleman. And that starts
Delicacy out on what is its major plot arc, as Markus is first surprised, then
confused, then delighted, then unsure of Nathalie's affection. Nathalie herself is initially dumbstruck that she did
something so horribly inappropriate (she even claims not to remember having done it), but it seems that there's a spirit
moving her toward this gentle giant, and that is where
Delicacy finds its heart and soul.
Delicacy is a disarmingly quiet little film that actually touches on several important topics, not the least of which
is that old adage about judging a book by its cover. But it's also a good deal deeper than might initially be thought at
first glance. This is a film that is ruminative and rather nicely exploratory in ferreting out a wounded woman's slow but
steady slog out of heartbreak into a new life. It's not the life she ever expected, and perhaps isn't exactly the life she
wants, and yet there is joy in it. That's a rather remarkable statement for a film that really has the makings of
"just another" romantic comedy. This is a nicely Gallic take on that idiom, though, replete with just a hint of nostalgic
philosophizing that gives the film its own special spirit.
The film has a rather interesting structure as well, where several characters give us narration at various times. What
might otherwise be a fractious experience is really rather close knit due to the sharp writing by David Foenikos, all in
service of the central focus on Nathalie and her climb out of the depths. It really doesn't matter if François, Markus or
indeed Nathalie herself narrates any given segment, for the different perspectives are simply like looking at different
facets of a finely cut diamond. The final narration by Markus, as he plays hide and seek with Nathalie in the garden
behind her family home, is a remarkable little piece of poetry that captures this film's very distinctive
patois, a
language that speaks to the heart without ever sacrificing the head.
Delicacy Blu-ray, Overall Score and Recommendation
Delicacy may be a bit too melancholic for American audiences who want their romantic comedies to be brash,
raucous and—predictable.
Delicacy is rather quiet, and the laughs are similarly often interior ones rather than
outright guffaws. But this film has a very appealing emotional tenor, one that subtly creates a very unique mood. Tautou is
her usual radiant self, the eternal
gamine, but she also exhibits some real range here as well, especially in the film's
early going as Nathalie struggles to overcome the death of François. François Damiens, the actor playing Markus, must
have had some qualms about appearing in the same film as the preternaturally handsome Pio Marmai, but he has a
wonderfully goofy, awkward quality to his characterization that is indeed lovable, warts (and hair and crooked teeth) and
all. Like its title hints at,
Delicacy is a sweet little morsel of a film, perfectly suited to those with an appetite for
something a little different.
Recommended.
