The Taste of Things
Director Tran Anh Hung shoots the preparation of a series of gourmet French meals in such a seductive way that it’s impossible to resist the temptation to get involved in the proceedings.
His dynamic camera is floating about a huge country kitchen, while sunlight and birdsong filter through the open windows, adding joy to the experience.
The film, like its characters, takes its time to depict a sense of plot (ultimately minimal)and to appreciate life’s pleasures, which seemingly (but only seemingly) are minor, but are actually major and even career and life-defining.
Yet, like other good food movies (the art house hit Tempopo, the 1987 Oscar movie Babette’s Feast), Taste of Things is more than just a mere food porn.
The text and subtext of this rich dish is the evolving (and shifting) emotional connection between chef Dodin Bouffant (Benoît Magimel, as the fictional late-19th-century “Napoleon of culinary arts”) and his cook (Juliette Binoche), who’ve shared a decades-long professional passion.
The two actors have history, too (on screen and off, while married in real life) adding unspoken depth to this moving workplace romance, whose tender last scene is nothing short of brilliant.
