An old Hollywood adage warns novice directors away from working with children, animals or water; a worthy addition to this list would be food, an equally uncooperative quantity in the film-making process.
It’s easy enough to gussy up a roast chicken with hairspray for that perfectly basted sheen, or to blow cigarette smoke over it as a dupe for steam straight from the oven. But to portray the action of cooking, as the Cannes prize-winner Trần Anh Hùng does in the bravura opening scene of his new film The Taste of Things, requires far more in the way of forethought, patience and improvisation. As the private chef Eugénie (Juliette Binoche) bustles about preparing a multi-course feast for her employer, the renowned restaurateur Dodin Bouffant (Benoît Magimel), she broils fish and pan-sears lettuce hearts with the same execution as Hùng tracking her motions – with a smoothness and confidence concealing all the effort involved.
