All of the little flashes of story that appeared in the last section now get confirmed in this one. The last segment ended with Delphine defusing her increasingly-heated personal discussion with Beatrice by bringing up her relationship with Jean-Pierre. It seemed to do the trick.

There’s just one problem with that tactic. Beatrice wasn’t the only woman at this little get together. Another woman, who the film doesn’t name, seems to know Delphine better and she immediately calls her on the reality of her relationship. She reminds Delphine that the relationship with Jean-Pierre is over. She tells her that she will either need to meet someone new or remain stuck in her sad memories of loss.

Fortunately for Delphine, Beatrice doesn’t take advantage of this opening to reopen her attack. I’m not sure if others feel the same, but it always bothers me to be in a conversation where it feels like people are ganging up on me. I can handle any type of back-and-forth one at a time, but if it becomes two or more against one, and I immediately drop into competitive debate mode, which is an entirely different personality, somewhat akin to me becoming the Hulk. But enough personal digression.

The friend suggests that she look to the stars for her romantic solution. She suggests participating in a seance and asks if Delphine believes in supernatural occurrences. She replies that she believes in a kind of personal superstition and then relays all of the signals mentioned in the last section: the importance of the color green, for one, and the random playing cards she sometimes finds, the most recent being the bad luck symbol of the queen of spades.

So everything seems to be lighthearted at this moment, tensions have died down, but Beatrice asks for a woman’s magazine so she can read the Delphine’s horoscope to her. It’s Capricorn, and it says: “Unaware that you’re just waiting for Prince Charming, you’re still alone and that seems to depress you. What a vicious cycle! How can you overcome your own stubbornness?” To this Delphine replies “I’m not stubborn, life is stubborn.”

Then next shot is of Delphine sitting on some stairs outside, alone, possibly crying. The group starts to wonder where she is and why she has separated herself. There’s a short discussion about Jean-Pierre, who we now find out was her fiancé, but the relationship ended two years ago. The third woman in the group, who so far has been quiet and is dressed in green, walks over to talk to Delphine.

Delphine is crying and asks to be left alone, but the friend is persistent in trying to draw her out. In the middle of the crying, Beatrice overhears and says “I hope she’s not crying over something we said. We didn’t say anything mean.” The camera then goes back to Delphine on the stoop.

The friend in green then does something very kind — she asks Delphine to come with her to visit her family in Cherbourg. This gets Delphine to open up a little and explain that she didn’t want to go to Ireland with her own family, she wanted a real vacation. The friend convinces her that Cherbourg is at least on the water, a place for her to get away.

So then we get another title card telling us that it’s now July 8, and what do you know — they’re in Cherbourg. What follows is an odd little improvised scene where the friends are wandering around the Cherbourg harbor and spot a typical French man with a sweater tied around his waist. Delphine seems to think that the man is interested in them … which you can’t really tell from the body language he is giving off from afar … but the friend says hello and beckons him to join the conversation.

We find out in that conversation that the man owns a boat and will be leaving the next day for Ireland. He seems to be flirting with Delphine’s friend the most (and I believe she already has a partner of some sort.) The friend tries to arrange a time to meet up with him after their family dinner that night, but Delphine doesn’t like the vibes of the conversation and nixes all the plans.

I actually think Delphine is right to avoid this guy, who she labels a “ladies man.” As she points out, he’s leaving the next day, so he’s clearly looking for something just for that night and Delphine doesn’t want that. He also seems much more interested in the friend than in Delphine. So while the friend judges that Delphine is being difficult in this scene, I disagree, I think she’s sticking to her values.

This day will now continue with the conversation that take place during that dinner I just mentioned. I’ll pick up the continuation of July 8 in the next section.