MovieChat Forums > La délicatesse (2011) Discussion > Nice, although the screenplay is a bit a...

Nice, although the screenplay is a bit all over the place

posted 12 years ago by elliest_5
4 replies | jump to latest

I generally enjoyed this film. It's one of those cute/heartwarming light but elegant movies, with which you pass a pleasant couple of hours, without having to think about them afterwards (which is good or bad, depending on your expectations).

**SPOILERS**

However, I think the script was a bit confused - not "confusing", "confused" in the sense that the scriptwriters seemed uncertain of what the main point of the film is: the stages of grief? finding love in unexpected ways/in unexpected people? the problems of a workplace romance?.

The first 1/4 of the film is about the heroine's first love and marriage and, 25 minutes into the story, none of the above issues is yet introduced. Then, there appears the issue of the boss being in love with her, briefly treated as a major point, then abandoned, and then briefly reappearing, without particular reason. Then, her inexplicable and completely inappropriate behavior of kissing a random co-worker is not further discussed and, instead, what seems to become a major point is that the guy is not a good match for her due to his looks and shyness/quirkiness - which, the way I saw it, was not an issue at all: the guy was normal, average looking, certainly couldn't be compared to her hunk dead husband, but I can't see why that should be such an issue, they looked fine as a couple and they didn't even come from extremely different backgrounds, given that they shared a work environment. I mean, if the goal of the film was to present an unexpected/unlikely romance, then I can think of a million other couples / stories/situations that would be much more unlikely than this one.

I really liked the ending, it was the most moving part of the film, especially the very last scene and the guy's thoughts. But even that didn't really come naturally and with enough explanations, following the last scenes we see at the office setting.

In all, as the title of my post says, it was a nice film, I just wish the storytelling was better structured, with a clearer focus and more natural flow and development.

~*~

[–] dbini 12 years ago

on the contrary, i thought it was a very well-balanced movie. it felt natural, like witnessing the distinct episodes of someone's life. i think the final scene in Grandma's garden sums this up beautifully. earlier in the film the jump cuts that miss out years, but retain the same locations and characters are disconcerting, but cleverly remind us that this is a story, that we cannot see every detail and we have to think for ourselves to join up the pieces.
i thought it was perfectly cast and soundtracked as well.

[–] trimby99 11 years ago

I disliked the jump cuts earlier in the movie. Especially because it looked as if they were shot on the exact same day in the same light. Like the actors went and changed their clothes, they let the little boy out of his cage and called action. Not very well done. Other movies that refuse to put "3 years later" at least change the hue, hairstyles or something else distinct to give the audience a clue.

A place where they had a nice cut was when they cut from Markus pulling out his phone to Markus standing outside her friend's door.

Other clunky scenes were some of the scenes trying to be clever or charming and just seemed out of place. The wedding is particularly bad and his walk home after the kiss is similarly bizarre though funny.

And the director really seemed to love shots of actors walking straight towards the camera.

I enjoyed the movie overall though.

[–] pacekissa 11 years ago

I agree with the second part of your review about movie not having a strong point. Casting was not done right either. If not for those forced scenes where markus was being disrespected, we'd assume he is shy because he's attracted to her, not bc he's this dweeb they're trying to say he is (based on everyone's reactions).

I was disappointed especially since it had my attention till the end.. But nothingness happened. And it went down hill after scene at her friends apartment IMO.

[–] rosedickens 11 years ago

I read the book because it was recommended by my French teacher and I wanted to practice reading in French, but I was highly disappointed with the plot that was so poorly developed in the book and consequentely in the screenplay. There is no good explanation in the book on why everybody is so fascinated by Nathalie, maybe it's her looks, I don't know as she doesn't seem to be a very charismatic or friendly person. Just to make it clear: she doesn't have any frioends in the book. There is no Sophie and the closest thing to a friend would be Chloe and she doesn't seem to care much about her parents as well. Everything is very superficial. I'm really amazed that anybody took interest bin making a movie out of that book and it's even more curious that they took away many of the insights of the character's thoughts and tastes that were expressed in the book.