The Taste of Things

Grade: B+

Jerry Seinfeld had a bit in his old stand-up act about the futility of cooking shows on TV. You can’t smell it. Can’t taste it. Can’t eat it. At the end of the show, they hold it up to the camera, like “Here it is. You can’t have any. Thanks for watching.” We are in the same situation with The Taste of Things, yet somehow it makes food on screen come alive like I’ve never seen before.

You could think of cooking as one of the great global pastimes. My dad called it an act of love. I read that the movie’s first scene lasts 38 minutes. It didn’t feel that long. All that happens for upwards of a half hour is cooking. There is very little dialogue, other than lines like “put those in the pot.” We just soak in the passion they obviously have here. It’s very easy to forget these are actors (not necessarily chefs), and I’d like to read up on how much of this they actually did themselves. Needless to say, as mentioned in so many reviews, you can just about smell, and even taste everything.

The people preparing all this isn’t a nuclear family, but they are a family of sorts. They are Dodin and Eugénie, with their teenage assistants Violette and Pauline. There’s an amusing bit where Pauline tries some sauce, and is able to name absolutely everything in it, just from the taste. The two adults have been working together for 20 years as live-in cooks for what appears to be a manor or clubhouse.

As Eugénie, it’s a pleasure to see Juliette Binoche again. 24 years after introducing the joys of chocolate to a small remote village in Chocolat, here she is as a character who devotes her life to feeding peoples’ bellies and souls. The movie isn’t just about food stuff. There is more to it than that. Benoît Magimel as Dodin has nursed a long infatuation with Binoche’s character. Over the decades, she has turned down a few proposals from him, but invited him into her bedroom from time to time – and now, is toying with the idea of finally making it official.

Your mileage will vary on how you receive the movie, particularly the opening sequence, depending on how hungry you are. I’d just finished a full meal right before watching, so I might not have gotten quite the experience others would. Still, though, The Taste of Things is a yummy treat. It’s not just the cooking scenes that have weight. There’s also extensive dialogue about the history and preparation of various dishes that is equally meaningful. It was a long time before I realized there is no score. The chopping, boiling, simmering, and sizzling serve as our music. Go into this hungry – or even if you don’t, you will be by the end. I was.

Grade: B+