Customer Reviews

Chef In Love [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Several of these reviews seem to be for some teen comedy -- "A Chef in Love" is definitely not a teen comedy! Instead, it is a tragi-comedy about a French chef who falls in love in and with Georgia (the country, not the US state) as the Soviets are coming to power. Having lived in Georgia, I was spellbound. Much of the movie was filmed in old Tbilisi, and the scene at the ancient cave city of Uplistika is spectacular. And for those lucky few who have enjoyed Georgian food, the Chef's love affair with the country, its culture and people is more than understandable. This is a great film about a great country.

A delicious movie filled with love, food, and revolution. Captures beautifully the situations so many found themselves in during the Soviet revolution. The acting is SUPERB [there's neither a judge nor a lawyer in sight, so the other review attached to this movie musts have been meant for another film]. The cinematography is exquisite. Pierre Richard plays a fascinating Frenchman--a combination opera singer, chef, and retired gigolo--who falls in love first with a Georgian princess, and then with her country and its cuisine. Tragic and beautiful. My only complaint: you can't buy the soundtrack...Too bad because it is probably the very best thing about the film.

Although it will finally tear at your heart, this is a beaautiful story of a passionate chef taken into a culturally barren world via the death of czarism in Russia, particularly Georgian Russia. Artfully pits the revolution against what once was. Spectacular costumes, scenery and food styling!

It's easy to see why this film didn't get anywhere, as it represents the other side of French film -- wooden, stereotypical characters and actors so cynical that they can't pull it off. The absence of chemistry between the lovers in this film made it interminable to sit through. It was difficult to observe Pierre Richard's loving smiles at her when his eyes and body language were like steel only when with her, but free everywhere else. The interrupting narrative was probably a bad idea, as it interjected just when things seemed to be getting moving. Not to mention that the scenes with the revolutionaries, although the lines seemed believable, were filmed in such a stilted way that no one could come across without being a laughable Russian caricature. In that regard, it was highly disrespectful to the plight of the deeply oppressed, largely uneducated Russian people (at the time of the revolution). And that's the crux of the problem -- the chef is supposedly in love with Georgia and its native dishes. Yet, the director's obvious contempt for these people and their mistrust of sophistication works against the storyline.