“God created water but man created wine,” remarks a well-fed dinner guest of famed chef Dodin Bouffant (Benoît Magimel). The line is just one of many poetic odes to fine dining in The Taste Of Things (otherwise known as The Passion Of Dodin Bouffant for its original French release), Trần Anh Hùng’s historical and romantic feast for the senses.
Set in late 19th-century western France in a postcard-perfect château, the character of Dodin Bouffant is based on one created in gastronomic author Marcel Rouff’s The Passionate Epicure and the film features references to leading French chefs of the century like Marie-Antoine Carême, considered the first ‘celebrity chef’. But while they add body to the film, a sense of precise place and history aren’t important to The Taste Of Things’ overall flavour. Rather, emotion, time and sensation make up the main ingredients.
Dodin is at the peak of his powers, accepting invitations to dine with princes and wile away his “autumn years” continuing to perfect his craft. The one thing he doesn’t have is the hand of his free-spirited prized pupil and cook, Eugénie (Juliette Binoche), who he has been working and living with for 20 years. Despite the marriage issue, the ease and comfortability of their relationship is depicted through their cooking together – moving around Dodin’s home kitchen like a dance, perfectly synchronised, able to communicate with a mere look, gesture or word. It’s as homely and elegant as the meals they prepare, from lavish multi-course dinners for their friends to humble, intimate breakfasts and suppers for just the two of them.
One of the most striking things about The Taste Of Things is how antithetical it is to what we’re used to seeing in kitchen dramas: the average romcom restaurant-set hookup feeds the pressures of that industry into the pressures of forming new relationships. Meanwhile, things like Boiling Point and The Bear convey the manic, backbreaking labour behind the scenes of our favourite haute cusine eateries.
Interestingly, a Picturehouse Q&A with Binoche and critic Robbie Colin revealed that the making of The Taste Of Things actually mirrored this energy. With little money and time – just six weeks, in fact – filming was a whirlwind experience, especially with Magimel only joining the production weeks before it began. He and Binoche are also exes; the latter confessed to her surprise he accepted the role, unsure as to what kind of chemistry would be produced between them playing long-term lovers.
Fortunately, none of this comes across on-screen. The Taste Of Things is neither slow nor rushed but perfectly attuned to the pace of domestic life, instantly making you sink into it rather than feel bombarded. The cooking sequences are performed with incredible confidence by Magimel and Binoche (supervised by legendary chef Pierre Gagnaire) while drips, spills, crackles, sweaty brows and laboured breaths are all left in. This isn’t militarised, Michelin micro-portioning but unfussy home cooking for the pleasure of feeding and being fed. The lead couple is also beautifully convincing as an unconventional, lived-in pair of this era despite the obvious power imbalance between them at the start. The trailer pull-line perfectly sums it up: “Happiness is continuing to desire what you already have.”
Perhaps easier to miss past all the tantalising food porn is the film’s relationship to nature, reminding us where what we eat comes from long before it hits our plates. The passage of time is marked by the seasons, used to gorgeous effect in the final sequence as Hùng slowly pans around the kitchen, tracing the changes in natural light that bounce off the brick, wood and stone to turn the clock back to Eugénie’s favourite, summer.
Dodin, meanwhile, enjoys every season for the subtle changes they bring in the world, highlighting a tragic disparity: Eugénie wishes time could stand still when we’re happiest whereas Dodin thrives on progression: “The discovery of a new dish brings more joy to humanity than the discovery of a new star,” he remarks to her.
Full of rustic French charm and an earthy tranquality, The Taste Of Things is a genuinely heart- and soul-warming pick this Valentine’s Day.
Dir: Tran Anh Hùng (12A, 134 mins)
The Taste Of Things is in cinemas now
words HANNAH COLLINS
