Best scene
The best scene for me by far was the dinner date between Brandon and Marianne.
It showed just the awkwardness of dating, first dates in particular, quite rare in film & television to be shown so frankly. The brief moments of silence between finding things to say, bemused expressions, nervous laughter, walking the streets afterwards, talking about absolutely nothing merely to have something to say, the awkward goodbye on the steps of the subway station.
The numerous interruptions of the third party, a waiter, played into the scene fantastically, I felt as a viewer to be not watching a film at all, but sitting in a restaurant, invisible, privy to a brief moment in the lives of these two people at their most vulnerable amidst the minutiae of everyday life.
When the waiter comes to pour the wine, Marianne is asking Brandon what his longest relationship has been. Brandon hesitates, the waiter begins to pour, stops, Brandon notices and motions him to continue. Almost as though the waiter, having detected the personal nature of the question, finds himself intruding and begins to withdraw his presence. Was such a thing planned, one wonders...
Pitch perfect.