FilmJuice– By Laura Walkinshaw – Adapted from David Foenkinos’ best-selling novel, Delicacy is a story that begins with young and beautiful Nathalie (Audrey Tautou) revelling in her perfect life and happiness with her soulmate Francois (Pio Marmaï).
– By Laura Walkinshaw –
Adapted from David Foenkinos’ best-selling novel, Delicacy is a story that begins with young and beautiful Nathalie (Audrey Tautou) revelling in her perfect life and happiness with her soulmate Francois (Pio Marmaï).
Shortly after they celebrate
another year together, Francois surprises Nathalie with a proposal and in a
snapshot they are married and have travelled the world, before settling down to
their modest Parisian home and discussing future baby plans.
But one day Nathalie’s world
suddenly comes crashing down when Francois is tragically killed in an accident
while out running. Alone in the flat they once shared, she struggles to know
how to carry on (should she delete his number from her phonebook?), and so throws
herself into work, trying to make sense of what has just happened to her
perfect life.
A few years and promotions
later, Nathalie leads a relatively emotionless life – aside from fending off
the unwanted attention she receives from her married boss (Bruno Todeschini). But one day she finds herself in a somewhat
surprising situation – locking lips with an unlikely suitor: her balding,
middle-aged Swedish co-worker Markus (Francois
Damiens), who until now has just been an overlooked figure in
the background.
While her colleagues and
friends appear baffled at why she has taken a liking to him – including the man
himself (who at one point comically runs away from her, afraid that he might
get hurt) – what follows is a touching and very believable courtship between
two people who have found a missing piece in what seemed an unsure existence.
But before long, their
relationship takes centre stage at the office and Nathalie is forced to take a
risk in order to give her new-found love a fighting chance.
While Delicacy is a touching
story and Tautou – as always – is a
delight to watch (and her outfits as stylish as ever), it isn’t the kind of
film to linger in your thoughts. You just take it for what it is – a pleasant
108 minutes of cinema. It’s clear that the camera, directors and audience love
Tautou and any fan will come away feeling content.
That said, the film’s tragic
start and Nathalie’s struggle to deal with grief and reconnect emotionally
enables us to see a deeper side to Tautou’s acting, which we miss out on in
fluffier films like Beautiful Lies.
Directors David and Stéphane Foenkinos‘s
subtle approach to sound is also of note and helps to create a great comic
effect in an enjoyable story about loss, life and love.
