Film Review: The Taste of Things

In a year where the Best Picture Oscar feels like a formality – Oppenheimer is odds-on favourite to win the award – perhaps France would have been better off selecting Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall as it’s Best International Feature submission. It would certainly stand a good chance of winning, rather than the outside bet it currently is as Best Picture. Nevertheless – and for reasons that were perhaps more political than they were artistic – French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung’s The Taste of Things was selected instead, ultimately failing to make the five-film final shortlist. 

Yet it is The Taste of Things that may stand the test of time. An exquisite, tender tale, the film is largely set in the kitchen of famed ‘gourmand’ Dodin (Benoît Magimel) who has become renowned for his perfectly thought-out and executed menus in 19th Century France. Loosely based on the French culinary writer Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, who sought to elevate the process of cooking and eating to almost transcendental levels, Dodin’s approach to food is one of romantic devotion. Indeed, though this film may come with the appropriate content warnings for vegans and vegetarians, the level of care taken in the preparation of each dish – from the elaborate to the omelette – is one of sheer reverence. Tran Anh Hung’s crafts beautifully choreographed scenes of cutting, chopping, frying and tasting that feel deeply at odds with – and somewhat critical of – our current one-click, fast-food culture. It is cooking as an art form.

With Dodin the artiste, the film adopts the old adage that behind every great man is an even greater woman and despite his obvious skillset, the kitchen is really the realm of Eugénie (Juliette Binoche), Dodin’s cook of over twenty years who’s both muse and lover. Yet by rebuffing his proposals she has managed to retain her independence in what feels like a quiet act of revolution. And so his pursuit of Eugénie has never ended with the satisfaction that comes from the perfect lunch. Instead he lives with a muted yearning as their romance waxes with the rhythm of Eugénie’s feelings. Is the door open or is it locked? As their relationship develops, nourished by the passing of time, it becomes more vulnerable. With the pair entering their autumn years it becomes Dodin’s turn to cook for Eugénie – another seemingly modest act that comes to define love.

Tran Anh Hung’s touches are deft too. A 360 degree turn of the camera marks the passing of the seasons. Cinematographer Jonathan Ricquebourg bathes the film in a warm glow. But its palatable aesthetics shouldn’t detract from what is a rich and moving romance. And with the preparation and cooking of each dish so elegantly laid out, we are reminded of the care and consideration required in order to create the perfect recipe – in food, life and love.

The Taste of Things is now showing at The Bonington Theatre.