NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Think of food and your mind could quickly whip up a five-course meal. Maybe a few hard-boiled eggs, to start, from 鈥淐ool Hand Luke.鈥� A side order of toast from 鈥淔ive Easy Pieces,鈥� followed by the soup from 鈥淩atatouille.鈥� A main course of octopus from 鈥淥ldboy.鈥� And let鈥檚 wash all that down with a $5 shake from 鈥淧ulp Fiction.鈥�
Since before Charlie Chaplin in 鈥淭he Gold Rush,鈥� cinema and cuisine have been as intertwined as the spaghetti of 鈥淭he Lady and the Tramp.鈥� But a real food movie 鈥� one that doesn鈥檛 just stop for noodles (鈥淚n the Mood for Love鈥�) or take a trip to Katz鈥檚 (鈥淲hen Harry Met Sally鈥︹��) 鈥� is a rarer delicacy.
Those movies that fully invest themselves in the making and consuming food are more all-your-eyes-can-eat buffets. Films like that wildly erotic ode to ramen; with its sumptuous banquet; and Ang Lee鈥檚 nourishing family meal.
It鈥檚 a rich and savory tradition that gets a delicious new serving in Tr岷 Anh H霉ng鈥檚 If ever a film was a feast, it鈥檚 H霉ng鈥檚. The movie, starring Juliette Binoche and Beno卯t Magimel, opens with a glorious 40-minute scene set in a late 19th century French country kitchen where a meal is being prepared.
Butter is sizzling. Loins of veal are roasting. Fresh crawfish are peeled. A fish is gutted. Soup bubbles. Few words are said but the kitchen hums. Utensils clank. Meringue burns. Steam rises.
There鈥檚 no music but it鈥檚 a symphony. Eug茅nie (Binoche), the right-hand woman of top chef Dodin Bouffant (Magimel), works with quiet, assured mastery. It鈥檚 as riveting as any action-movie set piece.
鈥淚 told my crew: This is my car-chase scene,鈥� says H霉ng.
H霉ng, the 61-year-old French-Vietnamese filmmaker, traces his love of cinema to his father, who would come home in South Vietnam with detailed descriptions of movies he had seen at the cinema, riveting H霉ng. But his mother鈥檚 kitchen, he says, 鈥済ave me my first feeling of beauty.鈥�
鈥淭he Taste of Things,鈥� which opens in select theaters Friday, isn鈥檛 just about cooking. Like most movies about food, its appreciation of cuisine has as much to do with love and art as recipes and ingredients. Loosely inspired by Marcel Rouff鈥檚 classic 1924 novel 鈥淭he Passionate Epicure,鈥� 鈥淭he Taste of Things" unfolds as a later-in-life love story, one with added poignance since Binoche and Magimel were, themselves, a couple 20 years earlier.
To H霉ng, who recently spoke by phone during a trip to Vietnam (he lives in Paris), says his mouthwatering opening scene, in all its sensory pleasures, is a paean to cinema.
鈥淚n musicals, it鈥檚 about harmony and the expression of love and pleasure,鈥� says H霉ng. 鈥淎ll of this was inside of me and I wanted to express it in this first scene in the kitchen where people move a lot. The level of gesture is enormous. How they move combined with complex camera movement, that came from musicals for me.鈥�
France selected 鈥淭he Taste of Things鈥� as the country鈥檚 Oscar submission over the much-celebrated At last year鈥檚 Cannes Film Festival, it
H霉ng鈥檚 1993 Oscar-nominated breakthrough 鈥淭he Scent of Green Papaya鈥� was likewise lush in atmosphere and sensuality. But while he admires some of the classic food movies 鈥� 鈥淓at Drink Man Woman鈥� especially 鈥� he doesn鈥檛 often feel they express what he wanted to accomplish with 鈥淭he Taste of Things.鈥�
鈥淭oday, I think films are really poor in cinema. Most of the time, it鈥檚 a theme of an important topic of the world today and then wrapped in very poor cinema. It looks like an illustration of a story,鈥� he says. 鈥淭o me, there is nothing to eat in that. I don鈥檛 feel full when I watch that type of film. There are too many like this. You can win the Palme d鈥橭r with a very poor quality of cinema in the movie.鈥�
Many reviews of 鈥淭he Taste of Things鈥� have come with a warning: Do not see this film on an empty stomach. But H霉ng supplies no such caution.
鈥淣o, I think it鈥檚 interesting to be hungry, and waiting for the next meal,鈥� he says, chuckling. 鈥淚 never get panicked when I get hungry. I like to listen to it and wait so that what I have later is more delicious.鈥�
Foodie photographs of a perfect plate have long been popular fodder for Instagram 鈥� the kind of gastronomy lampooned in the 2022 haute cuisine satire But 鈥淭he Taste of Things鈥� is earthy and grubby. The food 鈥� none of which was artificially enhanced to look better 鈥� was all real. Famed French chef Pierre Gagnaire designed the dishes that were cooked on location by Michel Nave. For the film鈥檚 final meal, in which a triumphant pot-au-feu is prepared, some 90 pounds (40 kilograms) of meat were used.
Suffice to say, the cast and crew of 鈥淭he Taste of Things鈥� ate well.
鈥淓verything we did was real,鈥� says H霉ng. "So at the end of the day, we had to eat everything. No waste at all.鈥�
___
Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle at:
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
