Customer Reviews

A Matter of Taste

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

 

 

Bernard Rapp's tight and unusual thriller is constructed in flashback, a la "Looking for Mr. Goodbar." A terrible crime has been committed and the events that led to it are slowly dissected. The plot unfolds as a disturbing and peculiarly Gallic version of the Pygmalion story, with Bernard Giraudeau and Jean-Pierre Lorit giving masterful performances as a rich businessman and ne'er-do-well waiter entwined in an increasingly perverse and strange relationship, though it is never clear whether the employer's attraction for his handsome employee is motivated by sexual desire or some darker attraction. It is to this film's credit that it achieves its unsettling effect on the viewer without resorting to graphic sex or violence, and no slander to say that memories of Hitchcock are evoked during its course, particularly "Rope" and "Strangers on a Train." Highly recommended.

Nicolas Riviere (Jean-Pierre Lorit) is unaware that his employment as Frederic Delamont's (Bernard Giraudeau) taster will put him on a dark spiraling path to oblivion. It starts out innocently enough but soon Delamont is obsessed by Riviere and in turn Riviere become entranced by Delamont, his wealth and his ever extreme lifestyle. Soon Nicolas is tasting more than food for Delamont. The relationship between the two men is extremely erotic but you don't really know if they've become lovers or not. Nicolas' girlfriend thinks so, but everything is open to intepretation among the lies and deceptions.

Giraudeau is extremely sexy with a voice like honey. He is amazing as the manipulative millionaire. Lorit does an excellent job as the regular guy taken to a place far out of his league. Rapp's direction is tight and the format of the film is clever. I didn't agree with some of the subtitling as they missed some of the subtleties of what was being implied. (spoiler - they were trying for a Crime of Passion defense, not insanity) All in all a most addicting and wonderful modern noir film.

This movie played at the Seattle International Film Festival in 2001 and I happened to catch it. The plot follows a wealthy, powerful business man and the waiter he hires to become his food taster. A strange premise, but I thought, rife with possibilities. Sexual undertones are suggested and a power struggle ensues as the employer tries to involve his new employee in increasingly bizarre activites. Overall, an enjoyable movie, but definitely film festival fare. The version I saw was French with English subtitles.

Intelligent dialogues. Might be slightly slow for the american standards but the subtility of Bernard Rapp's way of observing human behaviour is very interesting and well filmed. Gireaudeau is excellent as often.

Hitchcock would have loved this psychological thriller about a young man whose life is taken over by the wealthy businessman who hires him as his professional food taster.