The Taste Of Things opens on a chef unearthing a root vegetable in the garden. We're at a French country manor, sometime in the early 20th century? The first 40 minutes of this film show the preparation of a gourmet French meal by Eugénie (Juliette Binoche) and her assistants, and its consumption and appreciation by the Napoleon of French recipes, Dodin (Benoît Magimel) and his four fellow gustaphiles.
The meal is prepared by Eugénie without fuss or import, but efficiently and professionally. No measuring cups, spoons, or timers. Many gorgeous copper pots. No yelling. Eugénie just dumps in salt and pepper, pours half a bottle of wine in a stew pot in a very specific and deliberate technique. Many entrancing closeups of cooking food. I hate the phrase "mouth-watering" - has anything ever made your mouth actually "water"? - but I did moan quietly when Eugénie dumped her chopped vegetables in the roasting pan with the rump roast drippings.
After the meal, the five men enter the kitchen to heap praise on Eugénie and lament that she could not dine with her. She is not their servant by any means. They clearly are a tight-knit group and feel nothing but mutual respect for Eugénie and the magic she conjures in the kitchen. She responds that she participates in the meal with them, communicates with them, through her food.
Dodin and Eugénie have cooked together for 20 years: Dodin writes recipes, and Eugénie executes them as only she can. Dodin understand her cooking as an expression of her love and understand of his soul. While they are very close and affectionate, they are not married, and Eugénie is reluctant to accept his proposals. She feels their relationship is already defined in the kitchen.
This movie brought me such happiness. It also made me want to be a better husband, or maybe just more romantic, or more French? It definitely made me want to sit and be served a delightful French meal.
My Stub Hubby grade, A+ for pure joy of the delights that food can bring us. As one of Dodin's friends remarks over post-dinner wine, "Man is the only creature that drinks when he is not thirsty."
(Triplex Great Barrington, with a nice and quiet 50+ crowd)