If you're a foodie who loves watching films about cooking, then The Taste of Things is the perfect movie for you this week. The film follows Eugénie, an exceptional cook who has worked for Dodin, a renowned haute cuisine chef, for the past twenty years. As time passes, their mutual admiration develops into a romantic relationship and together, they create dishes, one more delicious than the other, that confuse even the world's most illustrious chefs.
The film is inspired by the book The Passionate Epicure: La Vie et la Passion de Dodin-Bouffant, Gourmet by Marcel Rouff. The novel begins with Eugénie's sudden death after returning from the market, but in the film, we see her alive together with Dodin. It is a kind of prequel where we get a brief glimpse of the dynamics and relationship between the protagonists. The film also offers the opportunity to explore something rare in the seventh art: the marital relationship.
To ensure accuracy, several experts were called in. One of them was Pierre Gagnaire, a three-Michelin-starred chef, who was one of the main advisors in the gastronomy team. The artist prepared all the dishes that were to appear in the film during pre-production. The goal was for the director to understand each of the dishes and to find the right way to film and represent them on the big screen.
The Taste of Things features an incredible cast, including Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel. Both were already seasoned cooks in real life and were very expressive and precise on set to perform the scenes.
Their characters developed naturally during the filming and this unparalleled chemistry is reflected in the final result.
The film directed by Anh Hung Tran is now in theaters in Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia.
Stay tuned!
