The connection between romance and dining is as old as humanity itself, yet it is surprising how relatively few feature films blend them equally.
A few of the standouts of this razor-thin specialty genre include “Like Water For Chocolate” (1992), “Big Night” (1996), “Chocolat” (2000), “Mostly Martha” (2001), and “Waitress” (2007). While each of these productions has its differences, they all toss in humor along with the romantic and dramatic elements.
Based on the wordy 1924 Marcel Rouff novel, “La Vie et la Passion de Dodin-Bouffant, Gourmet,” “The Taste of Things” (“Taste”) has many appetizing components, but humor is certainly not one of them. It takes itself very seriously, which in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing.
A Brilliant Opening
Set in 1885 at a well-appointed chateau, “Taste” opens with a 30-minute scene with the estate owner Dodin (Benoît Magimel), chef Eugénie (Juliette Binoche), and their apprentices Violette (Galatéa Bellugi) and Pauline (Bonnie Chagneau-Ravoire) preparing the night’s meal.Including Dodin, there will be six diners, all of them men, and from what we can tell, they’re all quite wealthy. Seven courses are on the menu, including braised bone-in veal loin, poached turbot, a crayfish-based bouillabaisse, assorted garden roots and greens, and baked Alaska, accompanied by multiple varieties of wine.
If reading this list of dishes causes your mouth to water, “Taste” might just be the right movie for you. “Might” be because even though the look of the food and its preparation is impeccable, it is done in a detached, slightly dispassionate manner with minimal dialogue, perpetual camera movement, and no backing score. The only music heard in the film is during the opening and closing credits.
It is worth noting that Pierre Gagnaire, the chef of his eponymous three Michelin star restaurant in Paris, acted as the culinary director on the film.
If you’re still interested, I should mention that at least a dozen key scenes merely stop, and by “stop” I mean they don’t transition smoothly into a subsequent scene but just end cold, often without providing the purpose of the scene, thus failing to justify its inclusion.
I got the impression that director Tran Anh Hung (also the screenwriter) and editor Mario Battistel (and perhaps the studio) knew they were making a relatively lengthy movie and didn’t want to allow it to be even longer. For me, I’d rather watch a three-hour movie with flowing, non-truncated scenes than a 145-minute version that plays out as rushed, harried, and incomplete.
Now, the Good News
The good news is that there are significantly more positives than negatives to be found, and those positives make the overall viewing experience worthwhile.To wit: the chemistry between Ms. Binoche and Mr. Magimel is beyond palpable. Eugénie has been working for Dodin for over two decades, and it’s clear he’s been pining for her almost as long. She doesn’t appear to feel the same about him for a number of possible reasons.
Will this quote he recites twice eventually win her over? “Happiness is continuing to desire things we already have.”
The reason the two leads are so convincing might be because they were romantically involved in real life between 1998 and 2003 and have a child together.
There is another big draw. During the opening salvo, Dodin asks his assistant Pauline to identify the ingredients of a complicated sauce by taste, and she gets 12 out of 14 (I counted) ingredients correct. Yes, the pre-teen Ms. Chagneau-Ravoire was provided the words, but it is with her understated and nuanced “selling” of her delivery that won me over. Criminally underused for most of the movie, Ms. Chagneau-Ravoire delivers an equally understated and moving performance in the final 30 minutes.
The Closer
If I weren’t a lifelong “foodie” (a label I don’t particularly care for), my review of “Taste” would dip to 2.5/5 because the filmmakers assume the viewers are already aware of much of the included “insider” level jargon. I say this because I had never heard of Ortolan birds as a delicacy, or the place of French chefs Antonin Carême and Auguste Escoffier in the history of gastronomy. It was eye-opening for me, but I can understand if some viewers might consider it to be slightly elitist and show-offy.I would be very interested if there might be a “director’s cut” version of the movie that the studio and Mr. Tran considered releasing or seeing the home video release of the film which might include “deleted” or “alternative scene” options.
I’d bet my last dollar that there is indeed a richer, longer, far more fulfilling, and complete version of “Taste” somewhere, and I would pay good money to see it.
