Summary

The Taste of Things explores the deep connection between love and food, showcasing a reverent appreciation for every detail of the cooking process.
The film is a study of devotion, emphasizing the importance of paying attention and immersing oneself in the experience.
The movie uses food as a metaphor for life, highlighting the cyclical nature of relationships and the need to pay attention to the things that deserve it.

I’m not someone who often thinks about Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird, but watching The Taste of Things (La Passion de Dodin Bouffant), it came to mind almost immediately. More specifically, I found myself dwelling on its memorable suggestion that love and attention are one and the same. Writer-director Trần Anh Hùng’s movie is about food, yes, but more important is the deeply attentive way it explores that subject. In building a layered look at what it means to love food, and love through food, Grewig’s words may as well have been the filmmaker’s thesis.

The Taste of Things is a romantic drama film by director Trần Anh Hùng and initially premiered in 2023 at the Cannes Film Festival. Chef Eugénie and her restaurant owner, Dodin Bouffant, begin to acknowledge the feelings they’ve developed and shared over years of working and cooking together. One day, out of admiration, Dodin decides to cook for her, bringing their buried feelings to the surface.ProsThe Taste of Things pushes us to pay closer attentionThe film examines food as form of loveThe filmmaking is exquisiteThe Taste of Things is a meditation on life and love

In a lengthy opening sequence dedicated entirely to one majestic meal, food becomes more process than product. Prepping, cooking, plating, serving, and eating are studied by a curious camera, and the film immerses us in the many sounds of these acts. The people involved are not merely cooks and diners, but gourmets. Their love of food, while clear in their sometimes euphoric faces, is expressed through a reverent appreciation for every little detail of these processes. By the time the meal is over, the connection Lady Bird posited is virtually undeniable.

The True Brilliance Of The Taste Of Things Is In Its Form
But the content is great, too

What follows, to deepen this theme, is primarily a love story. Set in 1889, the movie revolves around Dodin Bouffant (Benoît Magimel), a renowned French culinary figure, and Eugénie (Juliette Binoche), his chef of 20 years. They have loved each other for some time and spend many nights together, but Eugénie has refused several marriage proposals. She says she values her freedom, but it seems clear that food, not Dodin, is her true calling. It’s less clear, in what he calls the autumn of his life, whether that’s the case for him.

Teasing out this relationship, which is delicately textured and performed with deep wells of emotion by Magimel and Binoche, does a lot to advance The Taste of Things as a study of devotion. But what the early formal choices established goes so far beyond the content. Hùng has already, in a way, taught us how to pay attention. To film the performers in this way becomes a loving act; to see the characters through this lens is to love them. Every frame is imbued with warmth. As a viewing experience, it’s simply wonderful.

The Taste of Things
ends by encouraging us to consider the relationship between past and future. This is perhaps the movie’s most obvious adoption of food as metaphor for life – a great meal ends with an empty plate.

That’s not to dismiss the content. While the movie’s scope is concentrated (I’m sure some will criticize the sheer volume of food being filmed), the movie’s ideas are in no way limited. Food is a loaded signifier, and its place in human life is seen from several angles. Eugénie is quite clearly an artist, and to eat her food is to understand something about her perspective on the world. When Dodin’s friends lament that she doesn’t join them in the dining room, she insists she is always there, saying all she could possibly say.

Food is briefly glimpsed as a tool of power, in a Prince’s cudgel of a menu for Dodin, but cuisine is also presented as a child of science. The Baked Alaska (or “Norwegian omelet”), we learn, was inspired by a physicist’s discovery of the insulative properties of egg whites. Local farmers have improved their crops by using copper and zinc antennae to stimulate an electrical current underground. The scientific method is often associated with cooking; less often with love. But isn’t it just a form of applied attention?

In The Taste Of Things, Everything Is Cyclical
But are any two moments ever truly the same?

Juliette Binoche in The Taste of Things

The Taste of Things is also very interested in cycles, which are referenced practically everywhere. We are very aware at the end of Eugénie’s opening meal that, despite its multi-course creativity, eating is a daily occurrence. The peak of achievement in this field, the creation of new dishes, is codified in recipes designed to be repeated. Hùng’s film is full of natural imagery and soundscapes, and Dodin often references food’s seasonality, drawing our attention to the changes in weather and quality of light.

Dodin, as mentioned, also thinks of his own life in terms of seasons, and his and Eugénie’s relationship is defined by patterns of behavior. We see their days and nights, and learn about their years together. The movie also pushes us to think more broadly — Pauline (Bonnie Chagneau-Ravoire), niece of their hired help Violette (Galatea Bellugi), displays a prodigious sense for flavor, and Eugénie wants to mentor her. Dodin remarks to his friends that only 13 years separate the death of legendary chef Antonin Carême and the birth of the premier chef of their time, Auguste Escoffier.

Benoit Magimel and Bonnie Chagneau-Ravoire in The Taste of Things

As the story progresses, this thematic strand moves to the fore, and The Taste of Things ends by encouraging us to consider the relationship between past and future. This is perhaps the movie’s most obvious adoption of food as metaphor for life — a great meal ends with an empty plate. With so many variables at play, there’s no guarantee even the same dish will ever taste exactly that way again. The only way forward is to pay as much attention as we can to the things that deserve it.

Thankfully for us, though, a film is not a meal. We can watch The Taste of Things as many times as we’d like.

The Taste of Things
releases in limited theaters Friday, February 9 before expanding on February 14. The film is 135 minutes long and is rated PG-13 for some sensuality, partial nudity and smoking.

The Taste of Things Release Date February 9, 2024 Director Trần Anh Hùng Cast Juliette Binoche , Benoît Magimel Runtime 135 Minutes Writers Marcel Rouff , Trần Anh Hùng Studio(s) Curiosa Films , Gaumont Film Company , France 2 Cinéma , Umedia Distributor(s) Gaumont Film Company , IFC Films