I should have been in bed hours ago. But around 11.30 pm, just when I thought to myself that I should definitely go to bed right now, this film was about to start. Actually, I am terrible at watching movies in my own comfy couch if they start anytime after 9 in the evening. I fall asleep everytime. Still, I decided to give The Girl in the Café a chance. If any actor can keep me awake after midnight from inside a black box in the corner of the livingroom, it might very well be Bill Nighy, I thought.
And I was right! Bill Nighy was not running around singing about how you should really love Christmas (with way too many syllables) like he did in Love Actually. But he and actress Kelly Macdonald act very well together in this cute comedy, and the dialogues are quite funny. I got curious about both the characters from the moment they met each other in a café – when Lawrence (Nighy) sits down at Gina’s (Macdonald) table and pours large amounts of sugar in his little cup of tea:
- That’s a lot of sugar.
- It’s been quite a tough day.
- The worse your day, the more sugar you have?
- Yes. Well, within certain limits. Never higher than four. Even on the worst of days.
I can relate to this sugar theory. And I think most of us, unfortunately, can relate to the way Lawrence, when he has to sit down at Gina’s table because there is no other free tables, tries to sit as far away from her as possible. So they sit diagonally across each other to not invade each other’s personal space – even though they both apparently would like that space “invaded”… Gina comments:
I had a boyfriend who used to make us sit like this. He felt being directly opposite me put too much pressure on him to talk.
Gina and Lawrence, however, obviously had enough to talk about, because Gina’s comment made them move so they sat directly opposite each other instead. But you can’t drink tea forever, and Lawrence leaves the table after a while:
Well, it was lovely, sitting directly opposite you. And I enjoyed the early diagonal bit as well, obviously. I’m Lawrence by the way.
Good thing he introduced himself in the end, so he could get her name in return. I usually forget – either to exchange names at all, or to actually remember the name I just heard. If the name I get in return just doesn’t fit the person at all, it slips my mind instantly. And I might not even notice that I have forgotten it for quite a while, and the conversation will go on smoothly. The second I remember that the name is gone from my mind, however, I freeze or start behaving all awkward.
Not that I meet people randomly in coffee shops very often. Unfortunately.
Anyway. People are strange. You gotta love them!
Movies with the same feel and brilliant dialogue: Before sunrise and Before sunset. And probably many more.
So the conclution is:
“always bring a cleverly written manuscript to cafés”?
I guess so. Unless you want to keep sitting in this asocial diagonal sitting pattern. Then you can leave the manuscript at home and just murmur something while staring down at the table. Works like a charm ;)