Romantics Anonymous

Usually when you think of French romance films, what springs to mind is confident, sexy lovers speaking wittily to each other in a far too open manner, as well as annoying perfume adverts. Not, however, new French comedy Romantics Anonymous, which has as its protagonists two painfully shy characters who can barely string two words together to each other.

Angélique (Isabelle Carré), who's name appropriately translates as 'angelic', is a talented chocolatier who is too shy to make her ability public (which according to director Jean-Pierre Améris is a problem he too has suffered from). She is hired by chocolate shop opener Jean René (played by Belgian Benoît Poelvoorde) who too suffers from crippling shyness, and admits to his therapist that he is terrified of women and intimacy. As one would expect from a romantic comedy, they soon fall for each other, but their mutual shyness makes it comically difficult for them to get together, most memorably in a restaurant date in which the pair panic, sweat, and stumble their way through awkward conversation until Jean René flees out of the bathroom window.

With its too unconventually timid protagnoists Romantic Anonymous is certainly a new take on the romantic comedy genre, but it is still at escence a romance film. The beautiful style of colours, scenery and music confrim this, as well as the will-they-wont-they plot. Poelvoorde and Carré succeed too in making their characters vulnerable and engaging, and there are several laugh out loud moments.

Both characters' fears seem to relate to their parents. We learn early on that Jean René’s dad was scared of everything, with a motto of "Let’s hope nothing bad happens" that Jean René seems to have inherited when he nearly blows it with Angélique by telling himself that in pursuing her he would end up heartbroken. As for Angélique, she doesn’t seem to have had a mother figure, for her mum is shown acting immaturely and sleeping with strangers. She is therefore left to take care and mother herself, as is apparent in the scenes in which she calms herself down by singing to herself, just as a mother would. In this sense Romantics Anonymous is a lot like the fairytales Tom Thumb and Hansel & Gretel in its theme of the process of growing up. Through tasks set by his therapist, such as to touch someone (which brings about an awkwardly hilarious scene of Jean René nervously prowling round his office on the lookout for someone), Jean René takes steps to leave his comfort zone and battle his fears, while Angélique faces her problems with the help of the Romantics Anonymous therapy group of the title.

Another prominent feature of the film is chocolate (so much so that free chocolate was handed out before the screening!). Angélique and Jean René are both lucky to have a passion for chocolate, as both use it as an outlet for the emotions of love they feel towards life and towards each other. The chocolatier Angélique channels her love into her creations, and her passion for chocolate is evident in the way she articulately and enthusiastically talks about its complexities and varieties. Jean René meanwhile, in one effectively realized scene, is left alone with Angélique expressing in detail his love for the chocolate she has just made, only to realize that his words are inadvertedly directed towards her too, causing him to again panic and run away. The couple may have created a little bubble for themselves that separates them from the world, but chocolate is the bridge between their two worlds that allows them to bond.