Richard Curtis' THE GIRL IN THE CAFE

A good friend of mine is fond of saying that the Romantic Comedy is “the most depressing of all film genres” because these films never present love as they truly are, but rather how we all wish they were. They ignore the real difficulty of relationships in favor of hearty laughs and easily corrected misunderstandings, which leads to an inevitable happy ending. (It’ll come as no surprise that his favorite recent films about relationships are 2046 and CLOSER.)
When it comes to spinning tales of romantic fantasy that make you laugh, make you cry and make you sigh with a heavy heart, there is nobody better than screenwriter Richard Curtis. Since bursting onto the scene with FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL, he’s created our happiest recent memories of movie love. For me, his creative high point was the exquisite NOTTING HILL, which contains the quintessential Curtis line. (“I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.”) Curtis’ directorial debut was the Rom-Com epic LOVE, ACTUALLY. His definitive statement on the genre, Curtis supplied nearly a dozen happy endings and produced enough laughs and good cheer to melt the coldest heart. It brought about the question, where does Richard Curtis go from here?

Curtis’ latest film is a real curiosity. THE GIRL IN THE CAFÉ was never released in theatres, but instead played briefly on HBO (with minimal advertising) before appearing recently on DVD (with equally minimal advertising.) It begs the obvious question of why? Is the film terrible? The short answer is that THE GIRL IN THE CAFÉ is good, but a little too…I don’t know. It’s just not quite there as a satisfying film, but it was obviously made by talented people and it plays best as an interesting footnote to four of the artists involved.
The story involves Bill Nighy, (who stole LOVE, ACTUALLY playing an aging rock star). He stars as Lawrence, a diplomatic assistant who walks into a café and meets Gina (Kelly Macdonald, who stole TRAINSPOTTING playing an underage party girl). The two cautiously form a relationship that is sweet and courteous. (Very repressed-British.) Things get tricky when he’s to attend a global conference and impulsively invites her to join him. Complications ensue, as they always do.
The film was directed by David Yates. You’ve probably never heard of him, but his next film is HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, so I think quite a few film people may want to check this out as sort of a warm up. Truth is there’s very little here which gives me confidence that he’s the right man for the job. His visual style is shiny, but rather bland. And the film is much slower than it needs to be. He’s turned this story into something small, quiet and easy to dismiss. There are great performances, but I’m not sure how much credit goes to him.

Richard Curtis wrote the lead for Bill Nighy, although it’s actually similar to Curtis’ Hugh Grant roles. There’s lots of awkward stammering and self-depreciation. But Nighy brings a weight Grant could never have provided. Lawrence is moving into old age with a slump-shouldered acceptance. Through Gina, he comes to realize that he has yet to accomplish any of his youthful goals. Gina affects him in ways he doesn’t realize until late in the game. (He doesn’t even notice that he’s falling for her until the moment he realizes he’s hopelessly in love.) It’s a rich role and Nighy (who seems to appear in every film to come from Britain lately) delivers his best performance.
I’ve only seen a handful of Kelly Macdonald’s performances, and each one makes me long to see more. She’s a very underappreciated actress. Her role here is very tricky in that we’re deliberately told very little about her character. And it’s not so there can be some great reveal later. She’s just somebody who would rather learn about Lawrence than talk about herself. But Macdonald brings a full presence to the part. You feel there is much more to Gina then we will ever get to know. Her mystery never becomes frustrating, because she’s always in the emotional moment with Lawrence.
Their relationship plays out mostly in a series of café’s, hotel rooms and long walks, and in some ways this is the British LOST IN TRANSLATION (but with a lot more plot and dialogue and a lot less moody contemplation.) Richard Curtis could have once again played his magnificent verbal waltz and we would have happily watched these two dance. But Curtis had a secondary agenda in mind.

There’s a major subplot involving Lawrence’s conference, which is about helping the “extremely poor” (mostly in Africa). It’s obvious that Curtis takes the cause very seriously and wanted to use the cinema as a megaphone to bring attention to this global issue. The problem is the political agenda doesn’t live smoothly with the love story. Strangely enough, while the love story plays more true than Curtis usually dares to dwell, the politics are simplified and handled with all the realism of one of his romantic fables. (We could solve all the worlds problems if we really, really wanted to.)

So I understand why THE GIRL IN THE CAFÉ was never given a full theatrical release. But if you’re interested in the careers of Richard Curtis, Bill Nighy, Kelly Macdonald or want to check out the man who will be directing Harry Potter, then there’s something here that’s definitely worth your time. If you see the box advertising “From the writer of LOVE ACTUALLY and FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL” and think this might be more of the same, you’re more likely to be very disappointed.