ROMANTICS ANONYMOUS (Tribeca Film) - On DemandOctober 26, 2011
Tribeca Film
On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. ROMANTICS ANONYMOUS / Les émotifs anonymes (Tribeca Film).
ROMANTICS ANONYMOUS
Chocolate Is Nothing To Be Afraid Of
By Kris Scheifele
Variety is the spice of life, unless it—along with most everything else—scares the living daylights out of you. The latter is the case for the two lead characters, Angélique (Isabelle Carré) and Jean-René (Benoît Poelvoorde), in ROMANTICS ANONYMOUS.
In France, this romantic comedy is called LES EMOTIFS ANONYMES, a title which doesn't really translate properly into English. In French, an émotif is not a romantic, but rather someone who has emotional issues, particularly a fear of other people. Plagued with anxieties, an émotif is deeply perturbed by mundane social situations, especially intimate ones. In France, they even have an Alcoholics Anonymous-type support group for émotifs to come out, so to speak, of the closets they literally hide in. It was as a member of this group that director, co-writer, and émotif himself, Jean-Pierre Améris, found his inspiration.
The plot is simple. Without knowing they share the same affliction, Angélique, émotif, goes to work for Jean-René, émotif, in Jean-René's ailing artisanal chocolate factory. Almost immediately, he asks his new hire out on a date. Not nearly as twee as the 2001 film, AMÉLIE, everything is super adorable and old-fashiony, but the story seems to be happening now which makes it hard not to think about the legal tinder box on which the film's premise rests. Eventually, this looming spectre fades as the two jittery lovebirds faint, sweat, and stutter through interactions fraught with self-perpetuated panic.
Obviously, variety, change, and mixing it up are definitely not the spice of life for Jean-René. Variety, however, will not be denied and spice literally saves the day. It just so happens Angélique is a brilliant, avant-garde chocolate chef, which she conceals for fear of the spotlight. Pink peppercorns, paprika, and Porcini breathe life into the unevolved, run-of-the-mill chocolates that have been both the safe staple and downfall of the business.
Necessity forces these two out of their respective comfort zones, deliciously, as chocolate becomes the gateway drug to commitment and intimacy. Eating it, making it, tasting it—chocolate provides the arena in which Angélique and Jean-René are free to unleash their passions. There's one tasting scene in particular that'll have chocolate lovers drooling.
ROMANTICS ANONYMOUS, however, is predictable and riddled with what seem to me like inconsistencies. Why would Jean-René spontaneously grab the mic to sing with a band in a restaurant—in front of people—when he frequently cowers in the privacy of his office? Because this is a stylized caricature meant to add a little levity to social anxiety disorder. It's date night speak for, "Change what you can and accept the rest," or, if you prefer, "Get out of your own way and go get some damn good chocolate," if you know what I mean!
It's fluffy for sure but might be the perfect guilty pleasure.
Kris Scheifele is a new contributing writer to On Demand Weekly. She's an award winning television writer, producer, and editor and has worked on such projects as Sundance Channel's "Anatomy of a Scene" and Jessica Yu's documentary about outsider artist Henry Darger, IN THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL. Based in NYC, she's also an artist and arts writer.
Look for ROMANTICS ANONYMOUS (Tribeca Film) under your cable system's On Demand section.
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