Exquis

You can tell where this movie is headed within the first 15 minutes. From there, it drags itself to the grand "reveal" like a wounded animal, testing your patience at every turn. By the time it finally gets there, you're practically begging for mercy-just wrap up this mess already. The cinematography is good (1 star is for cinematography only) and the actors do their job, but none of that can salvage a story that feels uninspired and, frankly, not worth the time. It's a frustrating, drawn-out exercise in patience.

Worse, the film seems to think it's clever, mistaking unnecessary complexity for depth. It drags you along, teasing some grand revelation that never quite delivers and by the time it does, you just don't care anymore.

As "Delicious" (2025 release from Germany; 102 min) opens, we get to know a family from Frankfurt. The husband and wife and their 2 kids arrive in the south of France, After a nice dinner out and with the husband possibly drunk, on their way home their car hits a young woman... At this point we are 10 minutes into the movie.

Couple of comments: the premise of this movie is as familiar as it is appealing: well-to-do family takes in a wounded young woman and it's no long before we sense that not all is quite what it seems. The movie is plot-heavy so I won't go into further details. The movie reminds me of "Parasite" and "The White Lotus", except that "Delicious" provides a long (and at time great) leadup, only to badly misfire in its concluding half hour, leading to a massive letdown. Austrian actress Valerie Pachner ("The King's Man") plays the lead as Esther, the couple's wife, and does the best she can under the circumstances. I can't say that I was familiar with any of the other performers. The original score of this movie is courtesy of Oscar-winning composer Volker Bertelmann (a/k/a Hauschka), and is excellent and prominent in the movie.

"Delicious" premiered at last month's Berlin film festival, and it recently started streaming on Netflix. Netflix suggested it to me based on my viewing habits which includes lots of foreign films and TV series. If you are in the mood for a family drama out of Germany, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

I have no idea what Netflix was thinking with Delicious. If you enjoy beautiful shots of Provence, great-you'll get some nice scenery. But if you actually care about storytelling, logic, or a satisfying ending? Good luck.

This movie is a mess. It tries so hard to be artsy and provocative, but all it does is serve up a pile of nonsense disguised as highbrow cinema. The so-called "twist" is laughable, the pacing is a disaster, and the entire plot feels like it was written by someone who just wanted to shock the audience for the sake of it.

And let's talk about that ending-who approved this? It's rushed, borderline absurd, and completely destroys any sense of payoff. Not to mention, the characters act like they've never heard of logic. Did no one question the script? Were they just hoping we'd be too distracted to notice?

Honestly, Delicious is a fitting title-if you have a taste for disappointment.

Acting is OK but the story is so so bad. Throughout the movie I've counted grand total of 0 actions that made any sense. Family members turning against each other for lamest reasons, not a single person in the whole town realizing what's going on etc. It's like Salt Burn all over again...

The movie is thinking that it's some kind of a master piece when it's really a collection of unrelated and uncreative lines. It keeps on trying to wow you with some kind of revelation while you already know what's gonna happen beforehand. It's super predictable. I've guessed the whole movie except for maybe 1 plot.

I was in the mood for horror and at first, wasn't sure where this was going. I expected the usual variation on a theme of a typical slasher film with jump scares and a soundtrack building up to what was going to happen; but then I remembered this wasn't a Hollywood-made movie. I settled in and enjoyed the slower pace and gradual unveiling of the horror. European films tend to reveal terror more subtly, rather than relying on shock tactics of U. S. films I grown to be accustomed to. I appreciated the slow day-to-day feel and building of tension through their daily interactions, secrets, and lies. While the socio-political message was clear, the current real-world political climate makes fiction feel less frightening. This movie was just the right mix of horror to satisfy my craving.

Side note: On a few levels, this film reminded me of the 1983 UK/US co-production film "The Hunger" (David Bowie, Susan Sarandon, Catherine Deneuve).