DELICIOUS
****
Director: Éric Besnard
Screenwriters: Éric Besnard and Nicolas Boukhrief
Principal cast:
Grégory Gadebois
Isabelle Carré
Benjamin Lavernhe
Guillame de Tonquédec
Christian Bouillette
Lorenzo Lefèbvre
Country: France/Belgium
Runtime: 112 mins.
Australian release date: 26 December 2021.
“A well-nourished humanity is a humanity that thinks better,” declares Benjamin Manceron (Lorenzo Lefèbvre), the forward-thinking son of the cook Manceron (Grégory Gadebois) in Delicious, as his father grapples with the concept of serving quality food to the masses. As we learn in this sumptuous new period film from Éric Besnard, in the late 18th century haute cuisine was the preserve of the aristocracy, while the poor had to make do with bread and soup. Good cooks (the concept of a chef didn't arrive until later) were a mark of status for the ruling class but they had to follow fairly strict recipes developed in the Middle Ages, meals rich in spices and sugar. Manceron, on the other hand, is interested in preparing fresh vegetables and herbs from his garden, but when he serves one of his creations - a tartlet made from potato and truffle he calls le delicieux - at a banquet thrown by his employer, the Duke of Chamfort (Benjamin Lavernhe), he is ridiculed and ordered to apologise. When he fails to do so, he is dismissed and he leaves the chateau with Benjamin and his cooking utensils.
Setting up shop at a country coach-stop that serves thin soup to passing travellers, he broods, hoping the Duke will relent and ask him to return to the only place he's ever lived and worked. It's not until an unknown woman, Louise (Isabelle Carré), appears at his door asking to be his apprentice, that he begins to cook again, although he takes some convincing. Gradually, with the encouragement of Louise, Benjamin and an old poacher friend Jacob (Christian Bouillette), Manceron begins to realise that the world is changing and that it might be feasible to prepare decent food for ordinary folk, not just aristocrats. It was an entirely new concept - a restaurant - a place where excellent food can literally restore the weary and lighten the heart, but how will the duke react to this new idea?
A word of advice about Delicious: do not see this film with an empty stomach! The dishes served are gloriously tempting and lavishly shot. Indeed, the entire film looks like a still life painting from the 1700s. Besnard explains that, “This is the fourth film I’ve worked on with [cinematographer] Jean-Marie Dreujou; we knew that Delicious would be a film of light that we would like to recall genre painting of the 18th century. [Jean Baptiste Siméon] Chardin influenced us a lot, for genre painting (the characters of the people in the settings of their functions) but also for the composition of the still lifes which appear in interludes and to which I was symbolically very attached; first because I have a real passion for them, and secondly, because everything, in their assembly, has a meaning. To compose a still life is to create something symbolic. I composed all the ones in the movie. Such a joy!” The other painterly aspect of the work was achieved through the use of lighting; the filmmakers only allowed light on the actors in certain scenes to enter through a single axis, from one direction, creating a chiaroscuro effect. They also filmed in CinemaScope, using an autumnal, earthy and warm colour palette and the result is stunning.
Besnard and Boukhrief have written an inventive script, a contrivance that draws heavily on historical fact while not ‘based on a true story.’ The actors are terrific, especially Gadebois in the lead role; he brings just the right amount of doubt and insecurity to Manceron, a man who has spent his life in servitude and doesn't know what to do with himself once he finds freedom. The period was one of great change and political upheaval, though, and as Delicious tells us, “Three days later, the Bastille fell.”
Screenwriters: Éric Besnard and Nicolas Boukhrief
Principal cast:
Grégory Gadebois
Isabelle Carré
Benjamin Lavernhe
Guillame de Tonquédec
Christian Bouillette
Lorenzo Lefèbvre
Country: France/Belgium
Runtime: 112 mins.
Australian release date: 26 December 2021.
“A well-nourished humanity is a humanity that thinks better,” declares Benjamin Manceron (Lorenzo Lefèbvre), the forward-thinking son of the cook Manceron (Grégory Gadebois) in Delicious, as his father grapples with the concept of serving quality food to the masses. As we learn in this sumptuous new period film from Éric Besnard, in the late 18th century haute cuisine was the preserve of the aristocracy, while the poor had to make do with bread and soup. Good cooks (the concept of a chef didn't arrive until later) were a mark of status for the ruling class but they had to follow fairly strict recipes developed in the Middle Ages, meals rich in spices and sugar. Manceron, on the other hand, is interested in preparing fresh vegetables and herbs from his garden, but when he serves one of his creations - a tartlet made from potato and truffle he calls le delicieux - at a banquet thrown by his employer, the Duke of Chamfort (Benjamin Lavernhe), he is ridiculed and ordered to apologise. When he fails to do so, he is dismissed and he leaves the chateau with Benjamin and his cooking utensils.
Setting up shop at a country coach-stop that serves thin soup to passing travellers, he broods, hoping the Duke will relent and ask him to return to the only place he's ever lived and worked. It's not until an unknown woman, Louise (Isabelle Carré), appears at his door asking to be his apprentice, that he begins to cook again, although he takes some convincing. Gradually, with the encouragement of Louise, Benjamin and an old poacher friend Jacob (Christian Bouillette), Manceron begins to realise that the world is changing and that it might be feasible to prepare decent food for ordinary folk, not just aristocrats. It was an entirely new concept - a restaurant - a place where excellent food can literally restore the weary and lighten the heart, but how will the duke react to this new idea?
A word of advice about Delicious: do not see this film with an empty stomach! The dishes served are gloriously tempting and lavishly shot. Indeed, the entire film looks like a still life painting from the 1700s. Besnard explains that, “This is the fourth film I’ve worked on with [cinematographer] Jean-Marie Dreujou; we knew that Delicious would be a film of light that we would like to recall genre painting of the 18th century. [Jean Baptiste Siméon] Chardin influenced us a lot, for genre painting (the characters of the people in the settings of their functions) but also for the composition of the still lifes which appear in interludes and to which I was symbolically very attached; first because I have a real passion for them, and secondly, because everything, in their assembly, has a meaning. To compose a still life is to create something symbolic. I composed all the ones in the movie. Such a joy!” The other painterly aspect of the work was achieved through the use of lighting; the filmmakers only allowed light on the actors in certain scenes to enter through a single axis, from one direction, creating a chiaroscuro effect. They also filmed in CinemaScope, using an autumnal, earthy and warm colour palette and the result is stunning.
Besnard and Boukhrief have written an inventive script, a contrivance that draws heavily on historical fact while not ‘based on a true story.’ The actors are terrific, especially Gadebois in the lead role; he brings just the right amount of doubt and insecurity to Manceron, a man who has spent his life in servitude and doesn't know what to do with himself once he finds freedom. The period was one of great change and political upheaval, though, and as Delicious tells us, “Three days later, the Bastille fell.”