With all the Masterchef and Great British Bakeoff Material in the ether, it’s easy to forget that Italy and France rule the Western culinary world. French cuisine I would argue is arguably a tad better, because a lot of the dishes (terrine, cassoulet) don’t sound as delicious as Italy’s best (shrimp scampi, bucatoni di pepe) and yet are still is as delicious as anything I’ve ever eaten. The Taste of Things is a showcase of France’s kitchen passions…and just a bit of their film making ones as well, leaving you smiling and satisfied after another sumptuous feast.
1885 French celebrity power couple Eugenie (Juliette Binoche) and Dodin Bouffant (Benoit Magimel) have earned that status being among the best chefs of the time. But Eugenie is showing signs of age, with helper Violette (Galatea Bellugi) taking some of the work. In the middle of preparing a meal for an incoming prince and training new apprentice Pauline (Bonnie Chagneau-Ravoire), Dodin also takes a more active role in free spirited Eugenie’s private life, in hopes to marry his long beloved partner in all things.
The Taste of Things has your mouth watering within 30ish minutes. That’s because of how director Tran Anh Hung shoots the food prep. We’re past simple close ups of delicious cuisine like everywhere else. No, Hung treats the multi course meal as seriously as a John Wick gun fu action sequence. The giant, gorgeous set gives Hung ample room to move his camera, letting Eugenie, Dodin, and Violette prepare this extravagant feast for their guests. The constantly moving camera gives the scene this slow, kinetic propulsion as the 3 actors fly around the set multi-tasking and subdividing work in order to achieve the efficient perfection they aspire to with all their dishes. And along the way, we get all the necessary character setup: we see Eugenie’s brilliance and fragility, Dodin’s nerves and patience, and Violette’s diligence but naivete. All that setup matters to the next hour of the story, but for now the audience is fixated on the gastronomic artistry on display, eventually becoming one of the most beautiful onscreen meals in recent memory. By the time the meal’s over, we know Eugenie and Dodin are geniuses, and we have a pretty solid understanding of their work relationship so we can get to the deeper meat on the bone of Hung’s story.
Because at movie’s end, we get the full picture of Eugenie and Dodin’s fascinating relationship. Instead of falling into age old tropes of “the wife” or “the tortured genius: Hung’s story takes a gentler, more nuanced approach. From that opening meal, we know that Eugenie and Dodin come alive when they’re around food. So it makes sense that they feel most comfortable opening up to one another in kitchens and at dining tables across France. Juliette Binoche, the forever master, gives another stellar performance here: making Eugenie a warm, but firm woman content in the life she has forged for herself. Every bit her equal is Benoit Magimel, who has to walk this line of being supportive of his partner while being slightly unsatisfied with the status quo. Their chemistry is intoxicating without mostly being sexual; watching Dodin anguish over a meal he wants Eugenie to enjoy is basically the sex scene of The Taste of Things The non coupled work husband and wife both convey their wants and desires through their life’s work: the making and consumption of a great meal. Like any relationship, either one can feel the other’s emotions…they just usually come out in the heat of the 1885 clay oven.
The Taste of Things will have you undo your belt, to make it just a little looser, because you’re so stuffed. And your happiness is met by gorgeous smiles from Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel, making your contentedness all that more delightful. Eventually leading to that blissful, fantastic food coma nap waiting for you 10 minutes after the movie ends. Digestif?