• Pop Culture
    • Movies
    • Television
    • Comic Books
    • Video Games
    • Toys & Collectibles
  • Features
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Articles and Opinions
    • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Flickering Myth Films
    • FMTV
  • About
    • About Flickering Myth
    • Write for Flickering Myth
    • Advertise on Flickering Myth
  • Socials
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Bluesky
    • Instagram
    • Flipboard
    • Linktree
    • X
  • Terms
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy

Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

  • News
  • Reviews
  • Articles & Opinions
  • Write for Us
  • The Baby in the Basket

Movie Review – The Taste of Things (2023)

February 12, 2024 by Chris Connor

The Taste of Things, 2023.

Directed by Anh Hung Tran.
Starring Juliette Binoche, Benoît Magimel, Emmanuel Salinger, Patrick d’Assumçao, Galatea Bellugi, Jan Hammenecker, Frédéric Fisbach, Bonnie Chagneau-Ravoire, and Jean-Marc Roulot.

SYNOPSIS:

The story of Eugenie, an esteemed cook, and Dodin, the fine gourmet with whom she has been working for over the last 20 years.

It has been a promising period for French cinema with Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall a darling of awards season. The Taste of Things from Anh Hung Tran was France’s entry for the Oscars and has also earned strong reviews on the festival circuit. It depicts the relationship between Chef Eugénie (Juliette Binoche) and restaurant owner Dodin (Benoît Magimel). It is a delightful slice of French Cinema at its best, largely a double-hander between the two leads who share wonderful chemistry and keep the audience engaged making their work and subsequently romantic relationship palpable.

The opening 20-30 minutes depicts the kitchen cooking for a particular dinner with sparse dialogue but the craft and effortlessness of the staff makes it a must-watch. It is best perhaps to go in having eaten as the food across the board looks so exquisite that it will make many a stomach rumble. Anh Hùng captures the environment of the kitchen and the importance of food to the rural community in the late 1880s. This is as much a visual feast as anything else, with the culinary work doing a lot of heavy lifting alongside the leads.

Dodin and Eugenie are so intrinsically in sync and this is in part due to the work of the two leads, we believe they’ve worked alongside each other for 20 years and the relationship has morphed into something more. It is a joy to see the subtleties of their working and romantic interactions and how much one means to the other and the joy it brings to those they cook for with Dodin renowned in the highest circles.

Little of the action leaves either the kitchen or Dodin’s estate and this could become suffocating but it is never the case; even when there are chunks that are dialogue-free there is something to captivate the audience’s attention as the narrative goes in some slightly unexpected directions for its final half hour.

Binoche and Magimel have a lot of heavy lifting to do but the lowkey performances are perfectly matched. Binoche has long proven herself to be one of French Cinema’s finest contemporary actors, living up to that reputation here but Magimel is more than a match for her.

Famed French chef Pierre Gagnaire worked as the film’s culinary director, no surprise therefore that it looks so ravishing. It really feels like an intimate peak behind the curtain of a top-class restaurant, regardless of the time its set in such is the elegance and beauty of the food being prepared.

The Taste of Things is a slight but gratifying slice of French cinema. If its reputation has slightly been affected by its Oscar selection ahead of Anatomy of a Fall, it is well worth checking out in its own right; engrossing and truly delicious.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★

Chris Connor

 

Filed Under: Chris Connor, Movies, News, Reviews Tagged With: Anh Hung Tran, Benoît Magimel, Bonnie Chagneau-Ravoire, Emmanuel Salinger, Frédéric Fisbach, Galatea Bellugi, Jan Hammenecker, Jean-Marc Roulot, Juliette Binoche, Patrick d'Assumçao, The Taste of Things

FMTV – Watch Our Latest Video Here

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

The Rise and Disappointing Disappearance of Director Richard Kelly

Great Vampire Movies You May Have Missed

The Most Overhated Modern Superhero Movies

Crazy 80s Cult Movies You Might Have Missed

The Essential Pamela Anderson Movies

Underrated World War II Romance Movies For Your Watchlist

The Best UK Video Nasties Of All Time

Elvira: Mistress of the Dark Revisited: The Birth of a Horror Icon

Essential Demonic Horror Movies To Send Shivers Down Your Spine

MTV Generation-Era Comedies That Need New Sequels

WATCH OUR MOVIE NOW FOR FREE ON PRIME VIDEO!

Top Stories:

Movie Review – Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (2025)

8 Great Films with Incompetent Heroes

Movie Review – Bugonia (2025)

Why the 80s and 90s Were the Most Enjoyable Era for Movies

Movie Review – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (2025)

10 Must-See Comedy Movies From 1995

10 Horror Movies Ripe for a Modern Remake

Movie Review – Black Phone 2 (2025)

Movie Review – After the Hunt (2025)

2025 BFI London Film Festival Review – Nouvelle Vague

STREAM FREE ON PRIME VIDEO!

FEATURED POSTS:

Francis Ford Coppola In And Out Of The Wilderness

Lifeforce: A Film Only Cannon Could Have Made

10 Essential Vampire Movies To Sink Your Teeth Into

10 Great Modern Horror Classics You Have To See

Our Partners

  • Pop Culture
    • Movies
    • Television
    • Comic Books
    • Video Games
    • Toys & Collectibles
  • Features
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Articles and Opinions
    • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Flickering Myth Films
    • FMTV
  • About
    • About Flickering Myth
    • Write for Flickering Myth
    • Advertise on Flickering Myth
  • Socials
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Bluesky
    • Instagram
    • Flipboard
    • Linktree
    • X
  • Terms
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy

© Flickering Myth Limited. All rights reserved. The reproduction, modification, distribution, or republication of the content without permission is strictly prohibited. Movie titles, images, etc. are registered trademarks / copyright their respective rights holders. Read our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. If you can read this, you don't need glasses.


 

Flickering MythLogo Header Menu
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Articles and Opinions
  • Write for Flickering Myth
  • About Flickering Myth
  • The Baby in the Basket