IFC Films
When we recollect of romantic movies , we typically guess of traditional love story told in very narrow terms : son meets girl , son lose girl , son must win lady friend back . The last couple of decennary have loosen those definitions a bit , so now a boy can meet a son , a lady friend can recede a little girl , and a non - binary individual can strain to gain back another who does n’t distinguish on any exfoliation . Yet , while the players may deepen , the biz stay relatively the same ; traditional narratives are reward , and these game must have dramatic climaxes to wrap up things up .
The Taste of Thingsis a different kind of amatory movie . It does n’t swear on an“idiot plot”to move thing along ; in fact , it really does n’t have a plot at all . Instead , it ’s one of the few film to let its lineament be and do their thing , which , in this compositor’s case , is cooking . Food is the fundamental affair inThe gustatory modality of Things ; it ’s what drives the two lede and defines their love for one another . Here are three reasons why you should do yourself a favor thisValentine ’s Dayand watch out this pic .
IFC Films
The film is about three different kinds of love
The patch ofThe Taste of Thingsis pretty straight . Eugénie is a cook in late nineteenth century France who has excelled at her craft for decades . Dodin is her former employer who has rent her to make an elaborate for shoot the breeze Edgar Albert Guest at his res publica demesne . Dodin has loved her for days and wants to marry her , but the independent - minded Eugénie is content with the periodic Nox of passion .
There are three kinds of dearest affairs at play inThe Taste of Things : the love function between a military personnel and a char , yes , but also the passion between two cooks and the solid food they make , and the admiration a person has in understand their partner do well at the job or wiliness they are actively doing . Dodin wants to prove his love for Eugénie is enough for her to marry him , and he does so by doing the only thing that will impress her : cooking her a meal .
This interplay of honey and study , of the hope of exemption clashing with the debt instrument of marriage , drives the central romance and what the movie is all about . “ felicity , ” Dodin muses at one level , “ is continuing to desire what we already have , ” and it ’s this Epiphany of Our Lord that defines his love for Eugénie and what makesThe Taste of Thingsso limited .
The lead stars were once lovers (and are the best French actors working today)
love life stories live or die by the lead doer in them . They have to sell the fundamental romance , and if we do n’t consider their interpersonal chemistry , no amount of artistry or hocus-pocus can save it . So it ’s already enough that Eugénie and Dodin are played by two of the best French actors working today : Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel . Binoche is the more well - know of the two , having acted in such classic asThe intolerable Lightness of Being , Damage , Blue , The English Patient(for which she won an Oscar),Caché , Summer Hours , and 2014’sGodzilla . ( Yes , Godzilla . She ’s that talented . ) Magimel is n’t as known in the U.S. , but he ’s also been quietly rocking world celluloid for the last 25 years in film likeLa Haine , The Piano instructor , Little White Lies , andPacification .
Both actors have a tangible chemistry and a sense of shared history that make Eugénie and Dodin ’s romance believable and resonant . This is a result of their first-class acting , yes , but it ’s also the subtext they fetch with them as real - life former lovers . Binoche and Magimel were in a relationship from 1998 to 2003 and have a girl , Hana .
have intercourse this detail bring in an redundant layer of poignancy to the movie ’s love affair , which is already brim with a skin senses of melancholic . Eugénie and Dodin have it off each other all too well , and their warmheartedness for each other is braid with a certain tiredness . You get that sense that Binoche and Magimel ’s relationship is , too , and this personal touch is what deepens the celluloid ’s romance .
It’s erotic without being pornographic
For a movie that feature one abbreviated glimpse of exposed anatomy , The Taste of Thingsis unabashedly titillating . That ’s due , in part , to the way it ’s shoot . The film ’s cinematographer is Jonathan Ricquebourg , and he bathes the kitchen , dining room , and bedrooms Eugénie and Dodin cuckold in with a favourable chromaticity that land a tender , sensual glow to the most mundane of object .
That includes the nutrient , and I ’d be remiss to devote at least a few sentences to all those mouthwatering dishes Eugénie prepares throughout the film . It may sound weird , butThe Taste of Thingsmake the preparing , serving , and eating of nutrient — from racks of lamb covered in butter and red sauce to fiery crème brûlées — part of the conquest .
It ’s what ultimately unites the two romanticistic leads , and it ’s what makes the movie so enthralling to take in . I have n’t direct an prescribed study , but I believe it ’s everyone ’s dream to be won over with an elaborate Gallic meal , andThe Taste of Thingsbrings that illusion to such vibrant life that it would be a huge mistake to overlook it .
The Taste of Thingsis now playing in theatre nationwide . See it with someone you love , even if that someone is yourself .
