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Actors: Bill Nighy and Kelly MacDonald
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about The Girl in the Cafe |
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The Girl in the Cafe
Directed by David Yates, 2005
Staring Bill Nighy and Kelly MacDonald
Lawrence (Bill Nighy) is a middle aged bureaucrat working for the Chancellor of the Exchequer in London. His position is that of a dull number cruncher and you quickly get the impression that he is simply a middle aged, mid-level bureaucrat going nowhere. However, as the movie progresses we see that, despite the mundane nature of his position and his halting, plodding style, he is actually a key member of the Chancellor's staff – probably something like an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the U.S.
Gina, unlike Lawrence who is very shy and lacking in self-confidence, is quiet but confident. Also, unlike Lawrence, whose character is fairly clear from the start, Gina has an aura of mystery about her that only partially disappears as the movie continues. She is younger than Lawrence, appearing to be in her mid-to-late twenties while Lawrence is in his mid-to-late forties or more.
The two meet early in the first half of the movie when Lawrence leaves the office briefly to get a cup of tea in a cafe around the corner from his office. He sees Gina sitting alone in a booth and is intrigued by her. Despite his professional dress and middle-age, he is both terrified by the prospect of approaching the a member of the opposite sex and, at the same time, quite enchanted by the mysterious and lonely looking young woman in the booth. Enchantment proves to be slightly stronger than his terror and he makes his way to her booth and clumsily introduces himself and asks if he can join her. What follows is a couple of very chaste dinners and telephone calls.
The setting and momentum abruptly change in the second half of the movie. The romance between the two is slowly developing and Lawrence is slowly coming out of his shell in Gina's presence. Then duty calls and Lawrence is one of the key staff members who have to travel to Reykjavik, Iceland with the Chancellor and Prime Minister to attend the G8 Summit.
Talking to Gina, Lawrence starts to explain to her that he has to go to Iceland for the G8 Summit. Then, in a second moment of courage and spontaneity, Lawrence remembers that, the position he holds is such that he is entitled to bring a spouse or significant other with him (at government expense) and he asks Gina, his girlfriend of a couple of weeks, to join him. In Reykjavik Lawrence tries to explain to Gina what his work is all about and the difficult role the Chancellor and his staff have been given. The British government wants the other G8 nations to devote more funds to aid alleviating poverty in Africa but the U.S. is pushing for less aid and more market reforms to help Africa. Lawrence's area of specialization is alleviating the horrible poverty of the children of Africa but global politics is a barrier. A cow in Scotland, he explains to Gina, will generate about twelve thousand pounds in subsidies per year from the British government for its owner while the same British government will only allocate a few cents per year for a child in Africa.
Gina is clearly out of her element socially but, following a brief night of passion (which is Lawrence's first sexual encounter with her and probably his first ever) with her, Lawrence introduces her to the social scene at the summit. Totally out of her element socially and acting on feelings alone, Gina begins to badger delegates about the African aid question. Her crusade continues at a formal dinner for the delegation where she publicly confronts the Chancellor of the Exchequer as well as embarrassing encounters with high level delegates from the finance ministries of other G8 nations. Of course, this is not acceptable behavior and security officials soon have Gina on a plane back to England.
--Chuck Nugent, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of The Girl in the Cafe |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- present (2000-2010)
Romance/Love/Hugging
Yes
Kind of romance:
- romance (general)
Job/Profession/Poverty Story?
Yes
Job:
- diplomat
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- govt employee
Age:
- 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Events of movie makes character more...
- happy
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
How much in movie?
- 90%-100%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
Main Adversary
Identity:
- general circumstances
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 60%
Setting
Europe
Yes
Island?
Yes
Island:
- Atlantic Ocean Island
City?
Yes
City:
- London
Misc setting
- resort/hotel
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
Movie makes you feel...
- very happy
Non-American film?
Yes
What language?
- English
Subtitles?
- No
Any profanity?
- None
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Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 Chuck Nugent
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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