Film Review – The Taste of Things (2023)

“Everything started with something they ate,” with this line The Taste of Things was referring to Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, the biblical start of the human race, but it might as well be referring to itself. In fact, when it comes to the story of the film, everything also starts with something the characters ate. Or, rather, cook.

Loosely based on a 1924 novel by Marcel Rouff, The Taste of Things is set in the French countryside in 1889. The film focuses on Eugénie (Juliette Binoche) who works as a cook for Dodin Bouffant (Benoît Maginel) in his country estate. As the movie goes on, the audience witnesses the long-standing romance between the two and, perhaps more importantly given their shared love for cooking, the food that they prepare. At the beginning of the film, they are cooking an elaborate meal, along with Violette (Galatea Bellugi) and her niece Pauline (Bonnie Chagneau-Ravoire), for Dodin’s friends who meet regularly to enjoy good food together.

The food is an integral part of the movie, almost like the main character itself. This is evident not only in the storytelling, mainly centred around the meals and the cooking, but also in the very shots of the film. From the beginning sequence, the food is the protagonist, with a lot of close-ups of Eugénie cooking and the camera following the food as it goes through all the necessary steps of the preparation. In this sense, the film also gives us an idea of how things got made at the time, which is very different from today, as Eugénie and Dodin create a menu out of the things they grow in their garden or can acquire from nearby farmers and move around a 19^th kitchen without a trace of modern appliances.

The camera hardly ever stands still: particularly in the scenes where the food is filmed, the camera is always tracking to follow the subject matter, making the whole film a lot more dynamic and interesting to watch, The camera movements make us feel like we are part of the scenes, like we are also standing in Eugénie’s kitchen and about to taste her renowned food. The film is also excellent in portraying the atmosphere of the French countryside at the turn of the century, as every element of the costume and production design creates the period atmosphere, allowing the audience to be transported back in time, and space, to another epoch.

The exclusive use of diegetic sound also contributes to the overall immersive and realistic style of the film. There is no music to heighten the emotions or suggest to the viewers what they ought to feel, the only sounds we hear are those of the kitchen and of the nature that surrounds the protagonists. As a film that has little dialogue, the acting is all the more impressive as the actors are able to convey the pleasure of tasting Eugénie’s cooking with facial expressions alone. So much so that it almost feels like we can ourselves taste the legendary Baked Alaska that leaves Pauline speechless and filled with joy at the beginning of the film.

The Taste of Things is a delicate and gentle film that lets the audience gain an insider look into the life of these characters, and their relationships, through the meals that they prepare and the very process of cooking. The strong directorial style and impressive acting performances, accompanied by the beautiful scenery of the French countryside, make the film shine particularly brighter.