Food movies are a fun thing for me to watch. There aren’t a lot of them, but when they’re done right they are some of the best films that I can remember. The Taste of Things is the latest film focusing on food and the people that make it. This is also France’s submission for the Best International Feature Oscar at next year’s Academy Awards. This has a very good chance of making one of the five slots.

Dodin Bouffant (Benoit Magimel) is a restaurateur in France in the early 19th Century and he has a cook Eugenie (Juliette Binoche) who works for him. They have lived and worked together for twenty years, but they have an unresolved romantic interest in one another that has festered for a while. The pair make a good couple though when it comes to the food they make. It’s delectable. At least that’s what the customers who eat say.

The best part of the film is the scenes where these two are preparing food for various influential people, who have connections and come for dinner. They have shared their expertise in the culinary arts with some of those important people. The scene of the pair preparing the meal at the beginning of the film is one of the best scenes I’ve seen all year. All the little details that go into making the meal from taking lamb chops out of the oven and adding things to them to make them even better. From the sauces to the desserts everything they make looks absolutely delicious. All of this amazing-looking food made me hungry while watching the movie.

This film makes the food an equal part of the story. The preparation of said food was done in a way that makes cooking fun and eating food even more fun. I couldn’t take my eyes off of every camera movement whether it was on the characters featured in the movie or the food they were preparing. It was a literal feast for the eyes. I wish I were there eating the food they were making. I’m sure it was every bit as tasteful as it looked. 

Juliette Binoche has been in a lot of great films in her career. The English Patient, Three Colors Blue and Chocolat Is another film featuring food, and chocolate instead of dinner entrees. She has the ability to be grand and important in her roles. She also has an innate ability to be sensual and show love to the characters she plays. This ability is expressed very abundantly in this movie. She has a sweetness of mind and body and it comes out tremendously. She is amazing as this cook who is trying to have more in her life. The cooking still gives her delight even though she’s looking for meaning in other aspects of her life.

This movie has parallel stories though. The relationship aspects and a mentorship aspect.  The filmmaker, Tran Anh Hung, combined these two topics because they both have a connection to the restaurateur played by Magimel. He is being torn between two places regarding his love for the cook and his passion for passing on what he knows about cooking. These two things are what drive him every day. It’s difficult for him to focus on both. His love for Binoche’s character takes president when it is all said and done.

The Taste of Things is a delectable meal for all foodies and film fans. The first half hour is appetizing for the taste buds as any scene this year. If you’re not hungry after this scene I don’t know what to say. Every piece of food was painstakingly cooked and prepared. I saw all the love that went into this scene. Binoche and Magimel are both terrific and their characters show how much this material is perfect for them. They are both phenomenal in their roles. The script and the direction are both fantastic as well. There is a reason France chose this as their submission for Best International Feature. 

4 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen