Another gem from the absurdly stacked year that was 2023. Juliette Binoche lights up the room in every scene she’s in, and I’m convinced Benoît Magimel is a Hugh Jackman variant. Deeply intimate camerawork, on a similar level to ‘Phantom Thread’ but nowhere near as cold. The opposite actually. Felt like a big warm blanket for the most part. As a sucker for scores, the lack of one here disappointed me a bit but also prompted me to key in on those subtle details, either through the characters’ facial expressions or the meticulous manner in which they prepped their food.
It’s an effective romance to me that didn’t need any sex scenes. Rather, the “sex scenes” was the love in cooking and preparing, the love of serving and presentation, and the love of eating and the pleasure one gets from it.
To echo from the other thread: have a snack or something on stand-by because this film will make you hungry, especially during those first 30 minutes. Went in completely blind on this thinking they would prepare the most bland entrées. Nope, some of the dishes here actually slapped and had my mouth watering. I need a slice of that Baked Alaska right about now.
Also just some really good unintentional ASMR too? Which is the best kind of ASMR to me. Definitely will be running this back again.
