Time: 134 Minutes
Age Rating: PG – Nudity
Cast:
Juliette Binoche as Eugénie
Benoît Magimel as Dodin Bouffant
Director: Trần Anh Hùng

I heard of The Taste of Things, I knew that this was France’s entry for Best International Film at the 2024 Oscars and that it involved cooking, that’s all I knew though. Overall, it was quite good. 

It is surprisingly hard to talk about the plot without revealing too much, so I won’t get too deep into it. In short though, it is a love story between two people whose passion is food, and we watch their lives and interactions, and I was engrossed in the whole narrative. It is a sweet film with a tender romance which feels very natural, and especially works in its subtlety. And of course, a big part of the movie is food, and The Taste of Things does have great love for food. We see the couple’s passion for cooking, see how the act of cooking is a love language in itself, and how it brings people together.

Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel are great as the lead characters. They share such amazing chemistry together, and they are compelling to watch, with their romance and passion being very convincing. 

Tran Anh Hung’s direction is great, making this a greatly crafted film. It is visually gorgeous, beautifully staged, and the use of colour and the lighting is really great. It is such a sensory experience too, mainly with the fantastic sequences of food being made; it’s definitely not a movie you want to watch when you’re hungry.

The Taste of Things is an incredibly well directed and visually stunning film, with really good performances from Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel.