If you love period movies, cooking shows and romance, you should definitely check out the sumptuous, gentle movie, The Taste of Things at the Perth Festival.
In the kitchen of a stunning 19th century French residence, we watch on as a man and woman gather ingredients for a sumptuous meal. The amount of produce and intricacy of the dishes suggests this is no ordinary family meal. It’s a banquet for important guests.
From our fly-on-the-wall perspective we can admire their movements and speculate about their relationship. A slow dance, one performed many times over, a long-term marriage. But we’d be wrong.
France Dodin (Benoît Magimel) is a wealthy connoisseur of the finer things in life. Every summer he walks his estate welcoming the new growth, the “first” of everything. To him happiness is continuing to desire what we already have.
For the past 20 years Eugenie (Juliette Binoche) has been his live in cook.
Over the years they’ve grown closer, a connection which evolves into a deep romance. However, despite Dodin’s many proposals Eugenie prefers to keep the romance behind closed doors. To win her over he must do something to impress her. He starts to cook.
As the stunning dishes mount up I pondered:
- I love the notion of acknowledging the “firsts” of each season. The first rains, the first flowers. What a great way to remember how lucky we are;
- No wonder the people of that time didn’t live long lives. The amount and richness of the food was astounding;’
- The chemistry between the two actors is perfect, no doubt helped by their real life relationship;
- This is not your usual cooking movie. For one all the food was real and prepared by a three-star chef. No wonder the cast and crew loved coming to work each day.
For more information go to Perth Festival. On at Somerville Auditorium from January 22nd to 28th.
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