The Taste of Things review: A Tender Exploration of Longing

Trần Anh Hùng crafts an incredibly intimate journey across French cuisines through the eyes of characters portrayed by former, real-life partners Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel in a romantic drama you won’t soon forget.

The Taste of Things

Directed by Trần Anh Hùng
Starring Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel

Runtime: 2 hours, 16 mins
(French with English Subtitles)

Synopsis

French restauranteur Dodin (Magimel) has been cooking with his lover Eugenie (Binoche) for nearly 20 years, though they have never tied the knot nor made their relationship more concrete. Things start to change after a sudden shift in health makes them both reconsider what they mean to one another, and Dodin starts cooking for Eugenie like he never has before.

A Rich Frame

Putting all your characters into a stylized French kitchen would seem like a slam dunk for visual appeal and well…it totally is. The kitchen is sunbathed, alive with sound, steam emanating from stoves and pots, vegetables, spices, oils, and various items carefully tucked away around the room make the space feel lived in. You can easily believe this kitchen has served people for decades, with a set that shows age and a careful attention to detail.

Those details are given life by French-Vietnamese director Trần Anh Hùng early into the film as we’re treated to an entire dinner service. We see Dodin and Eugenie prepare various courses together, eventually shifting to Eugenie in full control as Dodin manages their guests for the evening. Since Hùng and our characters aren’t rushing, we’re given ample time to digest and savor every moment. The camerawork and editing for these early scenes have to be applauded for how much they center the preparation, the steady hands crafting each dish, and putting each phase together in a way that makes sense for the audience. It’s incredibly cool watching various dishes start at one place and seeing their completion later on, to the enjoyment and satisfaction of Dodin’s eager guests.

The other things that Hùng conveys with such tight or unbroken shots is that you know without a doubt that Binoche and Magimel are the ones preparing all of this food. They were thoroughly coached by renowned chef Pierre Gagnaire and it makes the first scenes incredibly impactful as we’re settling into the rhythm that Hùng wants.

Sure, it would have been easy to simply have a character start a dish and then cut to it being finished just a few seconds later. But that misses why the preparation is so important and what it conveys about Dodin and Eugenie as lovers. The point is that their partnership is in sync; they may not outwardly say that they love each other, but the care they display in handling each other’s dishes most certainly does. It makes the entire dinner service rich and full of life and Hùng’s cinematic insistence on long takes and minimal cuts capture it all.

Eugenie and Dodin

Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel as Eugenie and Dodin are well-paired together as two chefs approaching their twilight years and working through unresolved elements of their relationship. The film isn’t forceful with Dodin’s marriage desire and you feel as though his proposals in years past have been partially insincere. They frame it as a game these two play between each other that wouldn’t make sense unless you were there when it started. Sort of like the inside joke you have with your old college pals that if you uttered it now with your coworkers 20 years later would seem nonsensical. Here, Binoche and Magimel are telling the “joke” but they are inviting us to share in it, and it’s quite a wonderful experience.

This might seem surprising to say, but with the food doing so much heavy lifting to communicate their relationship, Hùng lets their eyes and expressions do the rest of the work. To be clear, both characters are still speaking, but I found the scenes where we just get Binoche or Magimel’s faces and reactions to be more striking than what was actually said.

It also doesn’t hurt that art is imitating life as Binoche and Magimel used to be partnered for many years – and unmarried – just like their characters Eugenie and Dodin. They both speak fondly of one another in interviews, conveying how much love and respect that still exists between them. Binoche has said in an interview with AnOther magazine that Magimel being brought on gave her the chance to express feelings that likely would have stayed buried if not given this opportunity and these words. I believe that catharsis truly came through in both of their performances making it a true treasure for us all to process and wrestle with.

A Culinary Aside

I caught an early screening at my local Alamo Drafthouse and, all-day, I had been thinking that it might be weird seeing such amazing French cuisine prepared on screen while slurping down on a Coke Zero and munching down on queso. While I had seen the trailers and understood this film would be focused on the culinary skills both characters had cultivated over decades, I wasn’t prepared for the dichotomy it would create.

This was the first time I’ve felt such a strong disconnect between shared, communal experiences that food scenes tend to draw upon and what I was doing in the theater. I could joke and say that I felt hungry but that’s not exactly it. I would say I almost felt ashamed of eating such simple snacks compared to what I was watching. To be clear, I love me some cheap theater food so I mean no shame nor condemnation on what we eat in the theater. However this film is so rich and deep with its intentions on the power of food and sharing that I would have better off eating something wonderful before/after the screening.

Conclusion / Recommendation

Blanketed by stellar performances from Binoche and Magimel, you will adore being swept off your feet and transported into this intimate portrait of middle-aged love paired with an intense focus on the communicative power of food, as only Trần Anh Hùng could craft.

This film is stunning to see on a big screen, but I’m not kidding about the food situation. It truly may be worth eating a great meal with your friend or significant other before watching this so you’re not salivating or feel disconnected. If you want to catch a good Valentine’s Day flick with your partner this week, The Taste of Things would be my pick.

Score: 8.6 out of 10

• Culinary Cinematography- 10
  • If there were ever a live action comparison to Miyazaki and his animated fixation of food preparation and appreciation, this would be it. Hùng has a fantastic eye for this and it shines through in every cooking scene.
• Chemistry between Binoche and Magimel- 9
  • So much of their performance happens in the margins: what they do or don’t say, how they look at each other. If you’re looking for a ton of verbal affirmation this isn’t the movie for you; their love is spoken through their food and their eyes.
• Pacing- 7
  • The only negative for some viewers will be the long takes or the last act. If there’s any moment where the movie drags, it’s certainly in these sections, though I was so enthralled by the story and visual that I didn’t personally notice it dragging.

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