The Taste of Things a Visual Delight

 

 

 

The Taste of Things  (2023)

Directed by Trân Anh Hùng

Gaumont, 134 minutes, PG-13 (brief nudity)

★★★

 

Is The Taste of Things a drama, a romance, or food porn? It is certainly channels the latter and, if you’re patient, has quiet aspects of drama and passion. If you hit the fridge while watching–and your tastebuds will undoubtedly kick into overdrive– make sure you have a better class of munchies on hand. This a film akin to Babette’s Feast or Big Night in that its major theme is food beyond your wildest dreams. As for the story, I wish director Trân Anh Hùng had offered more sauce to marinate his characters in a richer narrative broth.

 

The year is 1889* and we see Eugénie (Juliette Binoche) and Dodin Bouffant (Benoît Magimel) at work in a country kitchen amidst a farrago of copper pots, flames, steam, and comestibles in various states of preparation. They are joined by Eugénie’s young assistant Violette and a visiting child prodigy Pauline, who can taste a complex a complex sauce and identify each of its ingredients. It is nearly impossible to describe all of the delicacies the four fry, bake, boil, sauté, and marinate. I will say that they use enough butter, cream, and fatty ingredients to make your cholesterol levels double just by watching.

 

It takes time and context to infer the relationships. Dodin is the owner of an estate and a gourmand; Eugénie is his personal chef and longtime lover. It helps a bit to know that Dodin’s surname, though mostly used to describe a hairstyle, can also mean fullness or chowing down. Does the trim Dodin eat like this every day? Not quite. As we discover, he holds periodic gatherings for a group of friends who come to praise Eugénie’s culinary magic, discuss food, and engage in manly gossip. Several of his guests have recently dined with an unnamed visiting prince, an eight-hour ordeal of many courses, each accompanied by pairing alcoholic beverages. Dodin is anxious to hear their impression and takes delight in learning that it was ostentatious and “clashing.” In other words, Eugénie’s reputation is safe; so much so that Dodin plans to invite the prince for a meal of pot au feu. This is a bold and risky idea; a pot au feu is a simple stew of meat and vegetables usually considered peasant food. Dodin is certain that Eugénie’s unpretentious fare will surpass the elaborate efforts of the prince’s chef.  

 

A Taste of Things shifts its focus to more domestic things such as picnics by the lake, walks in the woods, and Dodin’s proposals to Eugénie. He is clearly in love with her and she with him; they’ve been sleeping together for years–always with Eugénie in control of when. She has also turned down his proposals many times, as she doesn’t particularly wish to marry. These are the most beautiful shots of the film, courtesy of the dappled light cinematography of Jonathan Ricquebourg. Equally touching and lambent are scenes in which Dodin demonstrates his devotion to Eugénie by cooking for her when she develops a mysterious illness. Forget the prince; Dodin prepares a multi-course meal fit for a queen served on fine china and with wine in crystal goblets. In an act of submissive role reversal, Dodin waits on her, a white towel draped across his sleeve. Within the logic of the film, his is the ultimate expression of love that melts Eugénie’s resistance to give up her independence.

 

There is more, but I will leave those revelations for you to discover. The Taste of Things is a visual stunner, but Trân Anh Hùng is an enigmatic director. Perhaps his best known film was 1993’s A Scent of Green Papaya. Like The Taste of Things it was a slow-paced movie that was praised more by critics than the viewing public. The Vietnam-born, French resident Hùng won several best director awards in Europe for Taste, including a Palme d’or at Cannes. His influences include such auteurs as Bergman, Kurosawa, and Tarkovsky. If you are familiar with their films you know that each emphasizes style and leaves it to the audience to make sense of actors immersed in ambience. Is this a flattering trust in viewers or perverse stubbornness on  Hùng’s part? I can only assure you that A Taste of Things will more than satisfy your visual appetite.

 

Rob Weir

 

* Why 1889? That was the year that Paris hosted the World’s Fair in which the Eiffel Tower debuted. It and the 1893 exposition in Chicago are sometimes used to symbolize the waning of traditional ways and the coming of modernism.