Romanze: When Spies and Marital Boredom Collide

Is it worth your time?

If you like movies that can't decide if they want to be a tear-jerker or a low-stakes thriller, sure. It’s for the folks who enjoy that specific 1930s stiffness where everyone talks like they're reading from a formal letter. If you need your pacing snappy or your tension grounded in reality, you’ll probably be bored to tears within twenty minutes. 🙄

There’s this odd feeling throughout that the movie is constantly trying to balance two scripts that never should have been stapled together. You’ve got the wife, looking miserable in every single frame, being all noble about her vows. Then, out of nowhere, we’re off to Africa to talk about German industrial facilities like we’re auditing a tax return. It’s jarring.

Notes from the couch

• The lead actress looks like she’s trying to solve a complex math equation every time she has to look sad.
• The transitions between the "home" scenes and the "spy" scenes are so abrupt it’s like the editor just gave up.
• Some of the lighting in the office scenes makes everyone look like they’re being interrogated, which actually fits the mood better than the romantic stuff.

I couldn't help but think about how much tighter this could have been if it just picked a lane. It’s got a bit of that same weird, clunky energy I felt while watching The Whip Hand, though at least that one had a clearer sense of what it was trying to be. Here, the "espionage" feels like an afterthought, something the writers tossed in because they were worried the marriage drama was too quiet.

There’s a scene near the middle where they discuss the factory plans, and honestly, the background wallpaper is more interesting than the dialogue. The guy playing the husband has this habit of adjusting his cuffs every time he’s nervous. Once you see him do it, you can’t stop looking for it. It’s the only thing that felt real in the whole two-hour slog.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a total wash. There’s a strange charm to how serious they take these absurd situations. It’s almost like they’re in on the joke, but then they deliver the next line with such intense gravity that you realize, nope, they’re definitely not. Painfully earnest is the only way to describe the climax.

By the time it wraps up, you’re just kind of... done. There’s no big catharsis. The factory stuff is settled or ignored, and the marriage is exactly where it started, just with more headaches. It’s a very weird, dusty little relic. Watch it if you want to see how not to blend genres. Or just watch it for the hats. The hats are pretty great.