The Taste of Things

The second foreign film in my double feature at the Broadway last night was The Taste of Things.  I was really excited to see this because of everything I had heard about it and it certainly didn't disappoint.  Dodin (Benoit Magimel) is a French landowner in 1885 who meets regularly with a group of his fellow gourmands for a meal he prepares with his cook Eugenie (Juliette Binoche) with whom he has been having an affair for over twenty years.  She refuses to eat these meals with him and his friends and refuses his frequent proposals of marriage.  When Dodin and his friends are invited to an elaborate eight hour meal prepared by the distinguished chef of a visiting prince, they are all disappointed because they prefer the artistry of Eugenie's cooking and Dodin makes plans to invite the prince to his chateau for a simple meal consisting of a pot-au-feu.  However, Eugenie begins having fainting spells that worry Dodin so, while she rests, he prepares an exquisite meal for her after which she finally accepts his proposal.  This is a beautiful and moving story about how the purest form of love is preparing food for someone!  The vast majority of the runtime involves the meticulous preparation of gourmet meals featuring many different courses followed by people eating them with pleasure and there is very little dialogue (and no score beyond the sounds of nature from the open windows) but these scenes are absolutely captivating because the food looks amazing and you can almost smell the aromas through the screen.  Binoche (who is luminous as always) and Magimel give lovely performances because, not only do they have insane chemistry with each other (this is one of the most romantic movies I've seen in a long time), but they also really seem to be cooking all of the food!  The cinematography, whether the camera is panning over simmering and sizzling pots or the sun-dappled garden where many of the ingredient are freshly picked, is simply gorgeous.  I loved everything about this delightful film and highly recommend it.