A Chef in Love

It is always nice to view a film unlike the vast majority of films one normally has the chance to see in the U. S. This is one of those films. Pierre Richard is great is a comedic, yet serious, role. And the entire mood/ambiance of the film is so consistently rich! A very enjoyable experience.

Pascal has a marvelous enthusiasm for life, and when he travels to the country of Georgia, he feels himself finally at home: he says that before he was like a cloud, floating here and there, but in Georgia, he finally could float down and stay. As in a fairy tale, he and the Princess fall in love, and he opens a restaurant where he creates beautiful and delicious food. All seems perfect, until the Revolution intrudes, exemplified by the cloddish Zigmund. Then we see that Pascal makes choices that will determine the rest of his life, that of the Princess, and also for those who come after. Many comic scenes are a delight in the movie, especially Pascal's revenge at the picnic. But tragic elements linger in the background. Music holds the film together --especially Georgian folk music setting an atmosphere that, like fine cuisine, will outlast ideologies. The movie is beautifully photographed with memorable and brightly colored scenes of food, love, and the Georgian countryside. Surprising that this movie is not better known.

This film is not a great film, but one can enjoy these two hours watching it. Its texture is colourful, its taste is marvelous, its rewind is cute. The story is simple but full of life scent, of passion for life. Nice, uncompromised meals fill the frames and they speak of a nice, uncompromised living. The characters do not seem to be real but in their simplicity they persuade us that simple down to earth values are the sence of life. Bon appetit!

A Frenchman in Georgia. This opens up so many possibilities, chances for humor, joy, deep and meaningful emotional engagement. Instead, the film fails to deliver any of the above. The acting of Pierre Richard is OK but so stereotypically French it makes it look like a grotesque (same goes for pretty much all other parts). The other actors are just meh. My biggest problem with this movie is its use of predictable cliches and no attempt to be even remote convincing. There are no nuances, no space for the viewer to explore. If this movie was food it would have been a McDonald's hamburger.

A French chef (a great performance by Pierre Richard) goes to Georgia at the turn of the 20th century to look for new tastes. He meets a woman, they fall in love, he opens a restaurant, and then the Russian Revolution spills into the country. This story is told in flashback as a modern-day art dealer preparing a Pirosmani exhibition reads about his family's past. A CHEF IN LOVE is the only Georgian film ever nominated for an Oscar, and it's easy to see why. It has sumptuous photography (by one of the best Georgian cinematographers, Giorgi Beridze) and the sort of historical love story they seem to go to pieces over, yet it also plays everything very safely and forces some notion of "exoticism" on itself while sticking to a plot that feels right at home in the Hollywood cookie factory. I liked it more than the other Djordjadze film I've seen, 27 MISSING KISSES, but I found something curiously hollow about the presentation. I also thought the flashback structure was pretty useless, except to introduce a dramatic third-act revelation that anyone who has ever seen a movie will be able to predict within the first five minutes of the film. Still, with so much great footage of Georgia and all the wonderful music and food (this movie made me extremely hungry) and the addition of Richard's great work, I find it difficult to dislike, and I don't think it should be avoided, especially when it's probably easier to find in the USA than any other Georgian film.