[DELICACY opens in Cleveland on Friday June 1st exclusively at the Capitol Theatre.]
Review by Matt Finley
David and Stéphane Foenkinos’ first
feature, DELICACY (La Délicatesse), is French,
stars Audrey Tautou and bears the tagline, “a new romantic comedy
about Love, Fate and other delicacies.” In other words, the
expectation of a quirky, artful AMÉLIE knockoff would be
reasonable. It would also be a gross over-estimation. Part romantic
farce and part workplace comedy, the film is airy and big-hearted,
with enough Parisian flavor and European presence to satisfy
film-going Francophiles, but that’s about as far as it goes.
Were it not for the unforeseen
intervention of a careless motorist, DELICACY could have been
the shortest romantic comedy ever. As it stands, shortly into
domestic bliss, an anonymous lead-foot squashes protagonist Natalie’s
(Tautou) true love and husband, Francois (Pio Marmaï). One “Three
Years Later” later, Natalie’s a high-paid executive who has
channeled her grief into her occupation, and remains alone save for
constant unwanted advances from her manipulative boss, Charles (Bruno
Todeschini). When she’s put in charge of her own staff, however,
she meets an unlikely love interest – a paunchy, balding Swede
named Markus (François Damiens).
