France’s selection for the 2024 Oscars absolutely serves.
No, for real. The characters literally serve food and that’s the bulk of this film. If you find cooking boring or don’t have a particular enjoyment of food outside of it providing fuel to your body, it’s fair to say this film probably won’t be for you. Le Pot A Feu or The Taste of Things by French-Vietnamese Auteur Tran Anh Hung decides to use the language of food and cooking in a new dramatic way. In the vein of recently popular shows like The Bear, the endless amount of reality shows about food and now the infinite amount of food content that can be found on your social media feed, the film takes cooking out of our modern context into the 17th century where the craft can be fully on display.
The chefs in question are Dodin and Eugenie, a couple who aren’t a romantic couple but have spent years together perfecting their craft. In fact, as the lead chef, Godin is considered the Napoleon of the culinary arts in France. Their collaboration over the years has slowly evolved into romance and make the love that they pour into their dishes evermore tangible. In the month that Dodin is hired to cook for the Prince, Eugenie begins to fall ill. But Dodin, desperate to see her happy in her autumn years, decides to cook for her as he tries to convince her to marry him.
The central idea of the whole film is food: the drama, the tension and romance are really all communicated through each meal. In the opening 20 minutes of the film, we are treated to a visual feast of a literal feast of delicious looking food. In real time, the actors appear to cook their hearts out with 17th Century ovens as they prepare stunning dishes that utilize the complexity of gastronomy and food science. Pulling this off alone takes a skilled hand and it is clear that the culinary team knew what they were doing and are in sync with the camera. Truong knows food and film and brings a team of skilled experts and camera technicians to let both crafts shine.
The drama is brought out in food. We can also see how happy the people that Eugenie and Dodin cook for are and how happy they are to cook for them. But, as they settle down after the first dinner, we see them prepare while they get into the crux of their relationship. Dodin wants to marry Eugenie and Eugenie wants their new assistant, Pauline, to become Dodin’s apprentice as she recognizes her acute skill in cooking and wants her to become her own chef. Dodin follows along because of his love for Eugenie but, as Eugenie falls ill, his love for her turns into rage and the fabric of their relationship begins to unravel.
What brings the two back together is, again, cooking. As Dodin cooks for her, we see in every detail of his cooking. From the precise measurement of parchment paper to the string used to seal a stuffed chicken, all the little details show a man in love who pours his heart in his efforts.
My complaints of the film mostly have to do with the pacing. While there’s a lots of good food to hold our attention, there’s a reason that most modern food films use quick cutting or social media pizzazz to hold onto their attention. The film’s length cannot be justified with the story content included. The long lengths of food are attention-holding but, at some point, the film’s warm and inviting palate feels repetitive. Despite the variety of foods and cooking methods displayed, it feels the same story-wise and lessens the amount of investment that I had in the long food scenes.
Those scenes have wonderful aesthetics. The cinematography features beautiful use of natural light from sunlight to fire. Each scene has a warm and beautiful hue in a digestible (but radiating high exposure) that makes everything seem brighter than our real world. Again, it eventually fizzles out and this film doesn’t have a more meditative concept going for it. It’s about the food and the food serves as the dialogue and drama, both of which aren’t going towards a clear goal. And, unfortunately, this makes the film’s goal and obstacle hard to feel throughout the film.
The Taste of Things is in theatres now.
