---
title: "Eat Drink Man Woman"
year: 1994
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/eat-drink-man-woman"
fi1m_id: "eat-drink-man-woman"
imdb_id: "tt0111797"
tmdb_id: 10451
wikidata_id: "Q696905"
fi1m_score: 82
critics_score: 77
critics_reviews: 7
published: "2026-10-04T04:33:23.285928+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-04T04:33:23.930351+00:00"
region: "CZ"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)

Directed by Ang Lee · 2h 03m · Comedy, Drama, Romance

## Identity

Eat Drink Man Woman

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/eat-drink-man-woman
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** eat-drink-man-woman
- **IMDb ID:** tt0111797
- **TMDB ID:** 10451
- **Wikidata ID:** Q696905
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111797/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/10451, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q696905

**Fi1m score: 82** · Critics 77 from 7 reviews

*In a sentence:* A master chef who has lost his sense of taste cooks banquets for three daughters who would rather be anywhere else

> Ang Lee’s comedy about a widowed chef and his three grown daughters is funny, generous and beautifully cooked. The daughters’ love lives get less care than the food, but Sihung Lung at the head of the table makes up most of the difference.

## Synopsis

Taipei, the present day. Mr. Chu (Sihung Lung), a widowed master chef now retired, spends every Sunday morning in his kitchen gutting fish, steaming buns and crisping a whole chicken for the one meal of the week his three grown daughters are obliged to attend. Jia-Jen (Yang Kuei-mei), the eldest, teaches chemistry, has turned to the church and has not had a man in her life for years. Jia-Chien (Jacklyn Wu) runs a department at an airline, has just put a deposit on a flat and means to leave. Jia-Ning (Wang Yu-wen), the youngest, works a fast-food counter. Chu, meanwhile, has lost his sense of taste and told no one. Then the divorced neighbour Jin-Rong (Sylvia Chang) and her mother, Madame Liang (Gua Ah-leh), start coming round.

## Review

*Eat Drink Man Woman* is the third film Ang Lee made with Sihung Lung playing a Chinese father who has outlived his usefulness, after *Pushing Hands* and [*The Wedding Banquet*](https://film.one/film/the-wedding-banquet), and it is the best of the three. Lung is Mr. Chu, a retired master chef who cooks a Sunday banquet every week for three daughters who no longer want to eat it. He has also lost his sense of taste, and has kept that to himself. The film is about a family that can only talk through food, in a house where the one person doing the talking can no longer hear himself. It is warm, it is properly funny, and it treats its daughters’ romances with a tidiness it never shows the cooking.

The opening is the thing everybody remembers, and rightly. Jong Lin puts the camera low and close in the kitchen: a live fish scaled and slit, a chicken inflated and hung to dry, dough pleated into dumplings by fingers that have done it ten thousand times, a cleaver coming down on a board with no music over it. Tim Squyres cuts it fast and clean, one movement per shot, so the cooking plays like a fight scene. Then the family sits down and nobody enjoys a mouthful. The daughters pick. One of them tells him the soup is wrong, and he cannot tell.

The daughters are drawn with a clear hand. Yang Kuei-mei’s Jia-Jen is the eldest, a chemistry teacher who has given herself to the church and to a story about an old heartbreak, and Yang plays her as a woman who has decided to be dry before anyone can find her dull. Jacklyn Wu’s Jia-Chien is the one with her father’s gift, kept out of the kitchen as a girl and pointed at an airline career instead; Wu gives her a hard, quick intelligence and a flat in another part of town already paid for. Wang Yu-wen’s Jia-Ning, the youngest, works a fast-food counter and watches the other two with an attention the script does not always reward.

Winston Chao is the new colleague Li Kai, Chen Chao-jung is Guo Lun, a boy who turns up at the fast-food counter, and Lester Chan Chit-Man’s Raymond is an old entanglement who has not gone away. Each of these men arrives on cue and does what the structure requires. Some of it is lovely; the scenes between Wu and Chao are the most adult in the film. Some of it is thin, and Jia-Ning’s story in particular resolves as if someone had checked the clock. The second half takes two turns we will not describe. One is the best joke Lee has ever told. The other is a shortcut, and the film knows it and hurries past.

What holds it together is Lung’s face across the dinner table. He says less than anyone and we watched him more than anyone. There is a moment, after a daughter has made an announcement and the others have gone quiet, when he carries on serving, and we were caught out by how much it hurt. Nothing in the frame changes except that he keeps spooning food onto plates nobody wants. Mader’s score is spare and stays out of the kitchen, which is the right decision. Sylvia Chang, as the neighbour Jin-Rong, is quiet and watchful, and Gua Ah-leh as her mother is the film’s loudest and most useful comic instrument, a woman who treats every conversation as a negotiation she intends to win.

Most critics reach for Ozu when they write about this film, and the comparison holds for the still camera at mealtimes and the grown children leaving home. It does not hold for the plotting, which is busier than Ozu would ever have allowed. Lee went straight from this to [*Sense and Sensibility*](https://film.one/film/sense-and-sensibility), and you can see why someone thought of him: this is already a film about three unmarried women, a parent, and the question of who will leave the house first.

Eat before you watch it. The first ten minutes are cruel on an empty stomach, and the rest is better taken slowly, with company who will argue about which daughter is right.

*Fi1m score 82, published 4 October 2026.*

## What the critics say

The reviews lean clearly warm. Most critics take to Ang Lee’s film as a confident, funny and compassionate family comedy, and the praise clusters in two places: the food, which several reviewers call the most memorable thing on screen, and the ensemble, whose performances are described as light, believable and textured. Lee’s touch is repeatedly noted as deft rather than heavy, and the dialogue as witty and warm. Radio Times goes further, rating it above Lee’s other films and tracing its stately style to Yasujiro Ozu and Woody Allen.

The spread is narrow. No critic turns against the film, and the two notices that pull the average down are ones whose full text is not available, so their verdicts cannot be read in detail. Among the readable reviews the reservations are faint: the structure is complex and the pace unhurried, which not every viewer will take to. The Skinny, writing two decades on, finds the family portrait as emotionally authentic as the first critics did.

## Straight answers

**Is Eat Drink Man Woman worth watching?**

*Eat Drink Man Woman* is worth watching for anyone who likes a family comedy that takes its time, and we scored it 82. Ang Lee's film about a widowed chef and his three grown daughters is warm, properly funny and beautifully cooked, with Sihung Lung doing the quiet work at the head of the table. The daughters' romances are tidier than the food deserves.

**How long is Eat Drink Man Woman, and what is it rated?**

*Eat Drink Man Woman* runs 2h 03m. It is a comedy and drama film.

**Where can I watch Eat Drink Man Woman in Czechia?**

*Eat Drink Man Woman* is not on any streaming or rental service in Czechia at the moment. It is available in 7 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How does Eat Drink Man Woman compare to The Wedding Banquet?**

*Eat Drink Man Woman* is the better of Ang Lee's two films with Sihung Lung as an ageing Chinese father, and the warmer one; [*The Wedding Banquet*](https://film.one/film/the-wedding-banquet) is sharper and sadder underneath its farce. Pick the later film if you want the cooking and a large, generous family comedy, and the earlier one if you prefer a tighter plot with a harder edge.

**What should I watch after Eat Drink Man Woman?**

After *Eat Drink Man Woman*, try [*The Wedding Banquet*](https://film.one/film/the-wedding-banquet) (1993, Fi1m 81): Lee and Lung’s previous father film, sharper and sadder underneath its farce. Then [*Tampopo*](https://film.one/film/tampopo) (1985, Fi1m 84): A Japanese noodle western that takes eating as seriously and as lightly; and [*Babette's Feast*](https://film.one/film/babettes-feast) (1987, Fi1m 86): One meal, cooked for people who do not want it, that changes everything.

### Reviews we read (7)

- **Empire**, Angie Errigo (90/100, inferred): Errigo gives the film a strongly positive verdict, praising its craftsmanship and rich script. She especially singles out Ang Lee’s food-centered scenes and the performances for making it memorable. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/eat-drink-man-woman-review/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (80/100, inferred): Turan recommends the film as a confident, funny, and compassionate romantic comedy. He especially praises its spectacular food and its warm, clear-eyed portrayal of family life. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-08-03-ca-22892-story.html)
- **Radio Times**, David Parkinson (4/5): The critic considers the film superior to Ang Lee’s other named films, praising its light, believable performances and witty, warm dialogue. They also single out its complex ensemble structure and stately style, influenced by Yasujiro Ozu and Woody Allen. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-ya3fgy/eat-drink-man-woman/)
- **Variety**, Leonard Klady (80/100, inferred): Klady finds the film an entertaining, ultimately winning family drama. He praises Lee’s light touch and the textured performances. [Read](https://variety.com/1994/film/reviews/eat-drink-man-woman-2-1200437180/)
- **The New York Times** (65/100, inferred): The article body is inaccessible, so its verdict and specific praise or criticism cannot be established. The available page text contains no review details. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/03/movies/film-review-avoiding-basic-human-desires-or-trying-to.html)
- **Time Out**, GA (65/100, inferred): Time Out labels this as a review, but the review text is unavailable, so its verdict cannot be established. No specific praise or complaint can be identified from the accessible page information. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/eat-drink-man-woman)
- **The Skinny**, Patrick Gamble (★★★★): The review finds the film a tenderly ironic, emotionally authentic portrait of shifting family values. It praises the warmth and sensuality that the father’s cooking brings to the family story. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/dvd-reviews/eat-drink-man-woman)

## Details

- **Director:** Ang Lee
- **Director:** Ang Lee
- **Screenplay:** Ang Lee, James Schamus, Wang Hui-ling
- **Cinematography:** Jong Lin
- **Editor:** Tim Squyres
- **Music:** Mader
- **Production design:** Lee Fu-hsiung
- **Producer:** Hsu Li Kong
- **Cast:** Sihung Lung as Mr. Chu; Yang Kuei-mei as Jia-Jen; Jacklyn Wu as Jia-Chien; Wang Yu-wen as Jia-Ning; Sylvia Chang as Jin-Rong; Winston Chao as Li Kai; Chen Chao-jung as Guo Lun; Lester Chan Chit-Man as Raymond
- **Runtime:** 2h 03m
- **First release (France):** 13 May 1994
- **Genres:** Comedy, Drama, Romance
- **Box office:** $24 million

## Where to watch in Czechia

Not streaming, renting or buying in Czechia at the last check.

Also available in: CA, CH, CL, CO, ES, MX, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Academy Awards 1995: Best International Feature Film (nominated)
- International Submission to the Academy Awards 1995: International Submission to the Academy Awards (nominated)

## If you liked this

- *The Wedding Banquet* (1993), Fi1m 81: Lee and Lung’s previous father film, sharper and sadder underneath its farce — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-wedding-banquet.md)
- *Tampopo* (1985), Fi1m 84: A Japanese noodle western that takes eating as seriously and as lightly — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/tampopo.md)
- *Babette's Feast* (1987), Fi1m 86: One meal, cooked for people who do not want it, that changes everything — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/babettes-feast.md)
- *Late Spring* (1949), Fi1m 92: Ozu’s widowed father and reluctant daughter, the quieter film this one grew from — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/late-spring.md)
- *Yi Yi* (2000), Fi1m 92: Another Taipei family over a year, longer and slower, with the same patience — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/yi-yi.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/eat-drink-man-woman