A Tale of Delight is a delicate, intimate look at PTSD, a movie full of gradations and yet full swings of time, tone and development. Through the romance starting this film, we get to know the lead character, the real side of Mike. This after the breakthrough he was having from whatever tough upbringing he went through. We have a caring sister with her own problems, a supportive friend who now has kids to raise, a wimpy husband married to a control freak of a cousin.
In short, we have an afflicted Mike dealing with the invasive clumsiness of family and the expert, distanced therapy of a counselor and support house.
We hurt precisely because we're good, or want to be - that was the feeling I got from Mike, so I liked how long it takes us to get to know him. It goes well with the intimacy/intricacy of each scene, how exclusive it feels to witness how he treats a small girl around a Christmas tree, how he speaks directly to the camera at the harrowing end of this film.
And what happens at the end can be up to interpretation, an appropriate un-sugarcoating of a serious issue affecting anyone who has to go through the type of hell Mike does, be they accident victims, men and women in uniform, sufferers of domestic violence, etc.
We often don't know how our kindness affects others. Mike's sister doesn't wait to find out. She, like the audience, like this amazing film, looks post traumatic stress straight in the eye.