To me, this movie is perfection.

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Great Film overall

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

ROMANTICS ANONYMOUS is a quiet gem - - a joy to be savored throughout nearly all of its brief 79-minute span. The entire cast is likable, including those in supporting or even minor roles. There are no bad guys, which is refreshing in itself. The two leads (Isabelle Carré and Benoît Poelvoorde) are superb, and the four chocolate factory employees are wonderfully true to life. My only reservations would be that bizarre, incongruous scene with Angelique's mother, which seems to be accidentally spliced in from some other movie's cutting room floor and (more damaging still) the unsatisfying conclusion. I won't throw in a spoiler here, but in my opinion, there was no reason to go beyond the final, sweet reconciliation and show . . . well, everything that comes next. Far better left to the imagination. Take out those two egregious miscalculations, and you have a well-nigh perfect little film.

Why do the French do everything with so much more finesse than we do? Jean-Pierre Ameris brings us the simplest of love stories, with characters who touch your soul, and with humorous twists that surprise and delight. Romantics Anonymous is a must-see. Must I tell you.Halfway through watching this fine film (on Netflix) I felt I could not go another minute without a piece of chocolate. We are not talking about a Hershey bar; I had to drive sixteen miles each way to Chatham Manor Chocolates for a few of their chocolate-covered caramels (without the salt) and then hightail it back to my house to watch the second half of the movie while savoring the sensuous chocolate in the way the movie demands. Clearly Director and Writer, Ameris, like most French people, knows his chocolate, and the movie is better for it. "The flavors will penetrate the chocolate. Impregnate it." Sexual. Sensual. Sensational. To ensure you need not leave in the middle, be sure and have some really fine chocolate on hand.Did I mention it's funny? Laugh-out-loud funny even as it makes you feel empathy for the painful way these two people, Jean-Rene, the chocolate factory owner, and Angelique, the secret chocolate maker, who he hires to do sales. Both of them try — and keep trying — to live in a world that is very difficult for them to navigate. He has them repeat statements just made to them in a way that is laugh out loud funny, confirming their issues. Two painfully shy people whose faces could make a hardened criminal apologize for frightening them. Two people who have a passion for chocolate and a long unfulfilled need to be loved. I loved them both. I'm so glad they loved each other.Benoit Poelvoorde, who plays Jean-Rene, is an Inspector Clouseau clone but better. While Clouseau was unaware of his own ridiculousness, our Jean-Rene Van Den Hugde is painfully aware of his. That awareness is what makes him so compelling — and a stronger character than Clouseau. His innocent presentation of his Achilles heel shyness, and his running away to regroup at every difficult moment, is moving and so very well done. And yet, he never gives up, which makes us pause to consider our own ability to walk away when the going gets tough. Isabelle Carre, Jean-Rene's Angelique, is as pure as chocolate itself. She's humble, wears a dimple next to her mouth that I have never seen the likes of on anyone before. A hopeful smile that you could practice in front of a mirror for years and never get right. The two together are magic.Ameris uses the camera in a way that follows his thought process that I haven't seen done before. For example, when Jean-Rene is interviewing Angelique for a job, the camera goes back and forth between the two over and over again, even when they aren't speaking. It helps emphasize the discomfort between them, the anxiety that silence causes for two people who are not ready for its intimacy. Back and forth, back and forth. But instead of making our heads spin, it simulates the characters' anxiety for us. Great technique. Others should try it. Works better than words.Lest you think my love is blind, there are a few flaws. There is a scene that is reminiscent of Notting Hill. In Notting Hill, Hugh Grant looks at his friends when he realizes he's made a mistake in rejecting Julia Roberts, and they all pile into a small car and speed off to correct the error before it's too late. They are all a bit ridiculous, but in a sweet way, not a silly way. I thought it was a nice scene. Romantics Anonymous has the same moment. Jean-Rene is explaining to his Keystone Cop chocolate factory workers that he has walked from the chocolate maker extraordinaire and love of his life, and they make the same plea as Hugh Grant's posse for him to get it right, and hurry. They pile into a car too small for the group and head out to find her. It's the same scene, although the Romantics Anonymous scene is ever so much better. Subtle. Stronger acting. OK, French.So two shy people meet and fall in love. They find it hard to make it work, and in the end, they know they are meant to be together. The other flaw is the ending. Running down the street leaving everyone in the church waiting for them? Not so much. Silly, and not in a good way, like Runaway Bride. (Could it be that Ameris has a Roberts/Grant thing?) It's beneath these fabulous characters. Ameris should have ended at the moment when Jean-Rene opens the wardrobe to find her waiting and directed the two to head down the hallway to their wedding. Trust me on this and edit it for the DVD version.So, load up on a few pieces of chocolate and download this fabulous film.

ROMANTICS ANONYMOUS:Chocolates form the basis for this funny movie that brings together a nervous man who owns a chocolate factory and a charming girl who has mastered the art of chocolate making. The unexpected turn of events help them overcome their inhibitions, and in that process they also motivate their team of loyal workers to a glorious win. A nice movie about simple human touch that provides fun filled entertainment. When Hollywood is churning out films with so much of violence and brutality for the sake of entertainment, here is a refreshingly different story that is sure to touch your heart and make you feel good that there are still good directors who are willing to tell something that can be simple and heart warming.

This is a film that depends totally on the right leads, in fact it is crucial to the whole thing and in Isabel Carre and Benoit Poelvoorde filmmaker Jean-Pierre Ameris strikes gold. The two actors had already appeared in together in Ann Fontaine's Entre Ses mains, a much darker film in which Poelvoorde, who made his name as a stand-up comedian, played a serial killer to whom Carre is drawn despite suspecting him. Here they are called upon to portray two chronically shy people who clearly are made for each other but unable to act on it. It is not, of course, the first time food has been employed as a metaphorical match-maker, witness the wonderful Mostly Martha, and chocolate itself has racked up considerable screen time but even so Romantics Anonymous gets the blend just right unlike Carre's and in one respect we could say that here Carre shows Audrey Tautou - whose own attempt at the genre recently suffered from a lack of chemistry between the two leads - just how to do it. I am fully aware that for everyone who revelled in it as I did there will be those who fail to see the magic - but then there are possibly those who don't 'get' The Wizard of Oz or Meet Me In St Louis - but all I can say is I'm ready to watch it again.