Delicacy Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Delicacy Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 21, 2012

David and Stéphane Foenkinos' "La délicatesse" a.k.a "Delicacy" (2011) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Studio Canal. The supplemental features on the disc include an original theatrical trailer, collection of bloopers, and a collection of deleted scenes. In French, with imposed English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked"

Nathalie is one of those women who cancels out all others. Nathalie is Yoko Ono. The kind to wreck the world's top group.

Life has been a wonderful journey for Nathalie (Audrey Tautou, Beautiful Lies). She has married her childhood sweetheart Francois (Pio Marmai, In Your Hands) and landed her dream job. She has even been fortunate to have loyal friends that truly like her.

Then, one day Francois dies in a terrible accident and Nathalie’s idyllic world collapses with a bang. Almost immediately, she begins to see everything she has ever known and loved from a completely different angle - and realizes that living alone will be an entirely different journey. To numb the ongoing pain, Nathalie tries to work as much as she can.

Eventually, Nathalie’s boss, Charles (Bruno Todeschini, Lourdes), asks her out. While having dinner in a chic bistro they talk about life, love and the future. Unfortunately for Charles, Nathalie’s plans for the future do not include him. Enormously disappointed but convinced that he deserves a second chance, Charles decides to wait for Nathalie to fully recover and then approach her again.

Soon after, Nathalie does something that changes her life. Markus (Francois Damiens, Heartbreaker), her unattractive Swedish co-worker, walks into her office and she kisses him - just like that, for no apparent reason. Markus is stunned. With her mind going through old and beautiful memories, Nathalie does not even realize what she has done. Unsure what to do or say, Markus leaves her office.

On the following day, Markus comes back to Nathalie’s office. He is energized, happy, ready to be the man Nathalie has obviously seen he could be. But as soon as he greets her, he realizes that he has made a terrible mistake - which Nathalie confirms after she admits to him that she does not remember kissing him. Seriously confused, Markus exits her office.

In the days and weeks that follow Markus and Nathalie meet again, go out for a casual dinner and eventually fall in love. This confuses a lot of people around them because no one can quite figure out why Nathalie is with Markus.

With a few minor exceptions, this romantic comedy from France maintains good balance between charm and believability, which is essentially the reason why it works. There are ‘sweet’ moments that should appeal to women and quite a few good advises for men that might have struggled with some of the same dilemmas Markus faces throughout the film.

Something else worth mentioning is that none of the sugarcoating that is usually applied to similarly themed Hollywood productions is present here. For example, the awkward sequences are truly awkward and almost never culminate with positive resolutions. On the other hand, the feel-good sequences never feel like colorful commercials full of smiley people that can’t stop complimenting each other. Another bonus is the fact that the camera does not spend a ridiculous amount of time admiring Tautou’s beautiful eyes. This is a major relief because since Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie the practice has been a serious issue with virtually every single film the French actress has appeared in.

The acting is solid. Damiens is outstanding as the kind Swede who is afraid to fall in love with his co-worker because he isn’t convinced that he deserves her. The best sequence in the entire film is during the second half, where he kindly attempts to explain to Nathalie’s best friend that he is her new boyfriend. As usual, Tautou looks appropriately charming and elegant in front of the camera.

Delicacy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, David and Stéphane Foenkinos' Delicacy arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Studio Canal.

This recent French film looks quite beautiful on Blu-ray. Detail and clarity are consistently pleasing, with many of the daylight sequences also boasting tremendous depth (see screencaptures #2 and 18). Contrast levels are stable. Color reproduction is also very convincing - there are lovely, very warm and natural looking greens, blues, reds, and browns. There are absolutely no traces of post-production lab tinkering. Unsurprisingly, the film looks crisp and sharp, but never artificially sharpened or contrast boosted. This being said, there are a few scenes where some extremely light artifacts try to sneak in, but even the most critical of viewers will likely have a very difficult time spotting them. Lastly, there are absolutely no serious stability issues to report in this review. All in all, Studio Canal's presentation of Delicacy is guaranteed to please fans of the film. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Delicacy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and French LPCM 2.0. For the record, Studio Canal have provided imposed English subtitles for the main feature (they cannot be turned off).

The lossless 5.1 track is likely to surprise quite a few viewers with its excellent range of nuanced dynamics. Though there are only a few sequences where there is some real intensity to be felt, the crispness, depth and overall dynamic movement are indeed very good. The dialog is crisp, clean, stable and easy to follow. There are no pops, audio dropouts or high-frequency distortions. The English translation is excellent.

Delicacy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original UK theatrical trailer for Delicasy. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).

• Bloopers - a gallery of bloopers. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (11 min, 1080/50i)

• Deleted Scenes - a gallery of deleted scebes. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (23 min, 1080/50i)

Delicacy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Delicacy is a funny and charming romantic comedy which does not go overboard with the genre cliches that usually make these types of films unwatchable. For once, Audrey Tautou is also paired with someone who is just as good, if not better. Give this film a chance, folks, I guarantee you will enjoy it. Guys will also earn bonus points if they surprise their wives or significant others with it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. (Note: If you reside in North America, keep in mind that a local release of Delicacy is due out next week).