‘La délicatesse‘ (2011) is a kind of experiment. It is very rare for a novelist to fully take on the screen adaptation of his own novel, writing the script and also directing the film. David Foenkinos, one of the most popular French novelists, did it, in collaboration with his brother Stéphane Foenkinos. The source was a novel published two years earlier, a study of grief and emotional recovery, a romantic melodrama and an unlikely love story. It was their debut film, they have relapsed twice since then, trying to prove that those who believe that an author should not be involved in the adaptation of their books are wrong. But above all, it is a film with Audrey Tautou, one of her last films, made ten years after she had conquered everyone’s hearts with ‘Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain’. Her charm and magnetism had remained intact, but was that enough?
Nathalie and François live a love story that is too beautiful not to end tragically and very quickly in this film. He is killed in a car accident and she, left a widow, tries to overcome her grief by immersing herself in the work of a company that deals with international trade. She refuses any kind of emotional involvement, including the advances of the company director – who happens to be a married man – until one day when she, suddenly, kisses one of his subordinates. Markus is a bachelor, he is balding, he is gaining weight, he dresses old-fashionedly and he is also Swedish on top of that, although he speaks perfect French. Everyone around him is stunned, including Nathalie who cannot explain what pushed her to this gesture. Overcoming the mourning period? The too-long refusal to enter into a relationship that had led to an accumulation of emotional energy? Markus is intoxicated by the attention that the beautiful and sad woman gives him and falls in love with Nathalie. Everyone, those with good intentions and those with less good intentions, tries to discourage the connection between the two. How will it develop?
Wrapped-up in the style of a soap opera, the story seems like a fairly banal melodrama. However, there are a few moments of discontinuity in ‘La délicatesse‘, in which the film could have evolved to a more mysterious or ambiguous direction: the kiss scene and one of the following scenes, in which Nathalie is looking for Markus, but several of the work colleagues do not seem to know that he exists. The anonymity of an erased person? or maybe Markus is a figment of the woman’s imagination? Unfortunately, the screenwriter and film directors did not insist and did not develop this path. I have not read the book and, anyway, I avoid book-film comparisons although here they would not be completely meaningless since they have the same author. François Damiens is perfect as Markus, but the one who dominates the film is undoubtedly Audrey Tautou. The actress has been retired for almost ten years, dedicating herself to her family and other activities, and perhaps also tired of being repeatedly cast in roles that are variations of Amélie. I continue to hope that she will return to the screens and that – being already at a different age – she will receive diverse and good quality castings that will highlight her immense talent. I am waiting for her.