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In late 19th century France, Dodin Bouffant is a celebrated chef – the “Napoleon” of the culinary world. At his home in the countryside, he is bewitched by the skills of his longtime personal cook, Eugénie, who puts her entire soul into what is, without question, culinary art. In her kitchen, she moves with gentle fluidity and pure pleasure – whether that’s cutting vegetables, gutting fish or preparing a vol-au-vent, a pastry filled with shellfish and the richest of cream sauces – a scene, among many, that brings viewers of the The Taste of Things to an awestruck gasp. The 2023 film (in French, with English subtitles) by Trân Anh Hùng is a sensuous food movie and gently simmering love story folded into one.
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After a meal featuring a multitude of courses and bottles of fine wine, Dodin (played by Benoît Magimel) and his guests retreat to the kitchen to thank Eugénie (luminously portrayed by Juliet Binoche). The guests ask why she never comes to the dining room to eat with them. Well, she needs to be in the kitchen, seeing to every detail, she tells them. And besides, seated at the kitchen table she eats everything they do, so she enjoys it too, she says. To all of this, Dodin looks on approvingly. But there’s the sense that Eugénie, who is also Dodin’s lover, isn’t truly accessible to him. He has asked her to marry him numerous times, to which she has always said no. He meets her on her terms but beneath his ready smile there is sadness.
Things seem to change when Eugénie starts experiencing fainting spells. Consumed by worry, Dodin begins to cook for her, using his own culinary powers as medicine. Enraptured, he watches her eat. On a walk through a verdant field, they talk about the seasons, Eugénie radiating summer’s heat and its ephemerality.
And there’s heat in The Taste of Things. In the food scenes, Vietnamese-born director Hùng – known for his 1993 film The Scent of Green Papaya – saturates us in the carnality of bringing food to life. The sheer magic of it, almost as transcendent as life itself.
SEE IT YOURSELF: The Taste of Things is showing Wednesday, April 17 at 2 p.m. and Fri April 19 at 4:30 p.m. at the Oriental Theatre.
