From the way fans describe this film, Les émotifs anonyms is like a kind of chocolate. It looks beautiful, with an eye for scenic little streets and traditional facades, for grand architecture and landscapes, for costume and interior design. When you sink your teeth in it you first come across a wafer-thin crust of bitterness – the two main characters who have practically given up any hope of ever being happy.
What follows is the deliciously sweet love story (hardened cynics, be warned!) with farcical scenes – awkward encounters, embarrassing conversations, clumsy touches – and breakups that take place at different times for different reasons. Meanwhile everyone around the hapless couple looks on and shakes their head, as they all know that commitment is inevitable. All of this interspersed with a pinch of humour, a touch of musical, and craving-inducing close-ups of that one substitute for love.
To enjoy the film, you really have to let go of all your reservations and rational thoughts about love, and just let yourself be submerged in the sweet delights of romance. And the chocolate.
Chocolate in Amsterdam
