--- title: "The Taste of Things" year: 2023 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-taste-of-things" fi1m_id: "the-taste-of-things" imdb_id: "tt19760052" tmdb_id: 964960 wikidata_id: "Q110953025" fi1m_score: 82 critics_score: 84 critics_reviews: 13 published: "2026-09-09" updated: "2026-09-18T08:37:59.975191+00:00" region: "CH" 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." --- # The Taste of Things (2023) Directed by Trần Anh Hùng · 2h 15m · CH 10 · Romance, Drama ## Identity The Taste of Things - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-taste-of-things - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** the-taste-of-things - **IMDb ID:** tt19760052 - **TMDB ID:** 964960 - **Wikidata ID:** Q110953025 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19760052/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/964960, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110953025 **Fi1m score: 82** · Critics 84 from 13 reviews *In a sentence:* A courtship conducted almost entirely through veal stock, and we came out hungry and slightly ashamed of our own cooking > Trần Anh Hùng’s film about a gourmet and the cook he has loved for twenty years is patient, handsome and unusually grown-up about affection. It is 135 minutes with little in the way of event, and the men talk about sauces more than anyone needs. ## Synopsis Dodin Bouffant (Benoît Magimel) is a gourmet with a country house in late nineteenth-century France and a circle of friends who come to eat. Eugénie (Juliette Binoche) has been his cook for twenty years. He has asked her to marry him more than once and she has declined, preferring the arrangement as it stands; her bedroom door is sometimes open to him and sometimes not. A kitchen maid, Violette (Galatea Bellugi), brings along a child, Pauline (Bonnie Chagneau-Ravoire), who can name every ingredient in a sauce from a single spoonful. An invitation to dine with a prince prompts Dodin to plan a dinner of his own in reply. Trần Anh Hùng writes and directs, from Marcel Rouff’s novel. ## Review *The Taste of Things* opens in a kitchen and stays there for the best part of forty minutes. Vegetables come in from the garden, a fish is boned, a sauce is passed through muslin, and nobody says much. Trần Anh Hùng, adapting Marcel Rouff’s novel, is showing us how the film will go. Dodin Bouffant (Benoît Magimel) is a gourmet with a country house in late nineteenth-century France; Eugénie (Juliette Binoche) has cooked for him for twenty years. He has asked her to marry him more than once and she has said no. Her bedroom door is sometimes locked at night and sometimes not, and that, for a long while, is the plot. It is a fine film, as interested in work as in love, and it asks more patience than it always repays. Jonathan Ricquebourg shoots the kitchen by the light through its windows, so the copper glows and the shadows are brown rather than black, and his camera moves from range to table without hurrying anyone. Mario Battistel barely cuts; a pot goes on, a pot comes off, and we have watched the whole of it. Toma Baquéni’s kitchen has a stone floor, an iron range and a wall of pans, and it looks used rather than dressed. Trần Nữ Yên Khê keeps Binoche in plain working dresses and Magimel in the waistcoats of a man who eats well. There is almost no music. We heard the fire, the knife on the board and the water coming to the boil, and after twenty minutes we noticed we had stopped waiting for something to happen. Magimel plays Dodin as a man who has been told he is brilliant for so long that he believes it. He talks about food the way some men talk about war, and Magimel lets us enjoy it and tire of it as Eugénie does. Binoche is quieter and better. Eugénie knows what she wants from the arrangement, and when Dodin presses her in the garden she tells him, without heat, that she is happy as things are. The moment that got at us is a small one: Dodin at her door at night, trying the handle. Nothing is said and nobody is watching him. We were more moved than we expected to be by a man finding out whether a door is locked, because by then we knew what each answer would cost him. Around them Hùng arranges a small society. Dodin’s friends, Grimaud (Patrick d’Assumçao), Rabaz (Emmanuel Salinger), Magot (Jan Hammenecker) and Beaubois (Frédéric Fisbach), come to eat and to talk about eating, and they are drawn broadly, as four appetites with hats. Violette (Galatea Bellugi) brings a child to the kitchen, Pauline (Bonnie Chagneau-Ravoire), whose palate earns her a place at the stove. An invitation from a prince prompts Dodin to reply with a dinner of his own built around a pot-au-feu. The trouble is the talking, and the length. Dodin and his friends hold forth on the history of sauces and the correct order of a menu, and these are the flattest scenes; Hùng writes them as essays. The second half takes a turn we will not describe and gets talkier as it goes. At 135 minutes it is a long sit for a film in which the biggest event of the first hour is a pudding. Hùng made *The Scent of Green Papaya* thirty years ago, another kitchen film, and this is his best work since. The obvious neighbour is *Babette’s Feast*, which most critics have reached for, and the comparison holds: both are about a woman whose gift is spent on people who do not fully see it. The reviews so far are close to unanimous; the one or two dissenters find it handsome and slight, and we understand the complaint without sharing it. The feeling is there, in the doors and the garden, if you wait for it. Eat before you see it, and accept that whatever you eat afterwards will disappoint you. The 12A certificate is honest: nothing happens that could not be shown to a child, and a great deal happens that a child would find unbearably slow. *Fi1m score 82, published 9 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews agree almost to a fault. Nearly every critic begins with the long opening kitchen sequence, a single stretch of cooking that several call the finest thing in the film, and most go on from there to the photography of the food and the ease between Binoche and Magimel, whose shared history off screen is often credited with the warmth on it. The praise clusters around those three things and rarely strays: the cooking, the couple, the light. Several place it beside Babette’s Feast as one of the few films to make a meal worth watching for its own sake. Reservations are few and mild. A handful note that there is little plot and less conflict, and that the film relies on process and beauty to hold attention. The Skinny finds it staid and emotionally undercharged for all its care, and Deadline calls it light, with a love story that does not go deep. The spread is narrow; nobody dislikes it. ## Straight answers **Is The Taste of Things worth watching?** *The Taste of Things* is worth watching for anyone with the patience for a slow, handsome romance conducted largely at a stove, and we scored it 82. Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel are quietly good as a cook and the gourmet who has courted her for twenty years. It runs 135 minutes, has almost no music and little event, and the men talk about sauces more than anyone needs. **How long is The Taste of Things, and what is it rated?** *The Taste of Things* runs 2h 15m and is rated 10 by the CH in Switzerland. It is a romance and drama film. **Where can I watch The Taste of Things in Switzerland?** *The Taste of Things* is not on any streaming or rental service in Switzerland at the moment. It is available in 21 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How violent or frightening is The Taste of Things, and is it suitable for children?** *The Taste of Things* contains no violence and nothing frightening, and its 12A certificate is honest: nothing happens that could not be shown to a child. The adult content amounts to a long-standing affair between a man and his cook, handled with discretion. The real obstacle for children is pace; a great deal happens that a child would find unbearably slow. **How does The Taste of Things compare to Big Night?** *The Taste of Things* is the graver and more patient of the two, a late nineteenth-century French romance told through long, near-silent kitchen scenes, where [*Big Night*](https://film.one/film/big-night) is a warm restaurant comedy about two brothers and a last meal. Both linger lovingly over food and reward waiting. Choose the French film for a serious love story and the American one for company and laughter. **Is The Taste of Things based on a true story or a book?** *The Taste of Things* is based on a novel by Marcel Rouff, not on a true story. Trần Anh Hùng writes and directs the adaptation, keeping the gourmet Dodin Bouffant and his cook Eugénie in late nineteenth-century France. Knowing the book is not necessary; the film explains itself through what is cooked and eaten, and very little else. **What should I watch after The Taste of Things?** After *The Taste of Things*, try [*Babette's Feast*](https://film.one/film/babettes-feast) (1987, Fi1m 86): The film everyone compares this to, and rightly: one dinner, one woman, one gift. Then [*Tampopo*](https://film.one/film/tampopo) (1985, Fi1m 84): A Japanese noodle comedy that takes eating as seriously and laughs at it more; and [*Eat Drink Man Woman*](https://film.one/film/eat-drink-man-woman) (1994, Fi1m 82): Ang Lee’s Taipei family cooks instead of talking; the opening kitchen sequence is a cousin. ### Reviews we read (25) - **Little White Lies**, David Jenkins (4/5/5): The review lauds the film's delectable photography of food and the perfectly matched pairing of Binoche and Magimel in a sensual epic of gastronomic passions, declaring it instant foodie film canon. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-taste-of-things) - **Time Out**, Phil de Semlyen (5/5): The critic calls it a rich and romantic gastronomic feast, praising the lived-in chemistry between the leads and the erotic, sensory pleasures of the food preparation and romance. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-pot-au-feu-2023) - **The New York Times**, Alissa Wilkinson (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it a magnificent culinary romance that exquisitely captures the kitchen’s bittersweet blessings and the transcendence of food and love. It highlights the leads’ chemistry and the film’s emotional depth amid sumptuous meals. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/08/movies/the-taste-of-things-review.html) - **Empire**, David Parkinson (85/100, inferred): The film is a visually ravishing and emotionally delicate costume drama that sensually and reverentially depicts the preparation and consumption of food. It features real romantic frisson between the leads, enhanced by their real-life history, along with scrutiny of class, gender, and culinary culture. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/the-taste-of-things/) - **Film Comment**, Simran Hans (80/100, inferred): The critic praises the film’s respectful, culturally specific use of food as a storytelling and character tool in its Belle Époque setting, highlighting the long choreographed kitchen sequences and the couple’s intimate history. It notes the film’s comforting appeal while appreciating its period detail and subversion through a Vietnamese director. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/the-food-film-a-la-france-the-taste-of-things-tran-anh-hung-review/) - **Radio Times**, Max Copeman (80/100, inferred): The review describes a sumptuous French drama in which food serves as the language of love, commending the strong chemistry between Binoche and Magimel and the luxurious presentation of the dishes. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-5xunm0/the-taste-of-things/) - **The i Paper**, Francesca Steele (80/100, inferred): This is a slow, incomparably patient film about the bond two people form over food, with an extraordinary 38-minute opening scene of cooking that emphasizes sensory details and the joy of the process. It is a bittersweet, unflinching look at how all things pass, even romance, while celebrating artistry in the ordinary. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/the-taste-of-things-review-2901881) - **The Telegraph**, Robbie Collin (4/5): The review celebrates the film's vivid, loving depiction of cooking and eating as a full-fat foodie experience that earns a place in the canon alongside Babette's Feast. It singles out the virtuosic opening sequence of simultaneous dish preparation for particular praise. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/the-pot-au-feu-cannes-2023-review-tran-anh-hung/) - **The Times**, Ed Potton (80/100, inferred): The critic highlights the sensuous French-language film as offering some of the best screen food since Babette’s Feast, with an epic opening meal sequence that turns Frenchness up to 11. The pretentious yet kind gourmet protagonist and the soulmate dynamic with the cook are noted positively. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/the-taste-of-things-review-juliette-binoche-l0qtxsf23) - **IndieWire**, Sophie Monks Kaufman: Highlights the passionate chemistry between Binoche and Magimel and the film's focus on food as an expression of love in this Cannes competition entry. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/the-pot-au-feu-review-food-1234867465/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Justin Chang: The critic describes it as an absorbing, pleasurable mouthwatering crowd-pleaser that celebrates the artistry of cooking and the intimate bond between the leads. It singles out the extended kitchen sequences, performances, and themes of time and pleasure. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-12-15/the-taste-of-things-review-juliette-binoche-benoit-magimel) - **Screen Daily**: The critic highlights the tender rapport between Binoche and Magimel, the exquisite filming of the meals, and the film's celebration of a mature relationship guided by mutual respect and equality. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-pot-au-feu-cannes-review/5182562.article) - **Sight and Sound**: The critic praises the film's elegant portrayal of a culinary romance between a gourmet and his cook, highlighting the delicate chemistry between Binoche and Magimel and its sensual focus on the artistry of cooking and deeper themes of love and artistic exchange. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/taste-things-tran-anh-hungs-elegant-gastro-film-feast-senses) - **Slant Magazine**, Chris Barsanti: Notes the film's sensual attention to culinary creation and the intertwined passions of food and romance, commending Binoche and Magimel's performances. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/taste-of-things-review-juliette-binoche-tran-anh-hung/) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw: The critic praises the film's daring, leisurely opening sequence focused on food preparation and its unconventional portrayal of a tender, enduring later-life romance between equals. The sensual parallels between cooking and physical intimacy are highlighted as subversive and satisfying. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/feb/18/the-taste-of-things-review-juliette-binoche-tran-anh-hung-benoit-magimel-deliciously-subversive-tale-of-later-life-love) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Jordan Mintzer: Praises the film's gorgeous portrayal of haute cuisine and middle-age romance between the leads, calling it one of the most appetizing art-house food films in years. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/the-pot-au-feu-review-juliette-binoche-benoit-magimel-1235497317/) - **Variety**, Guy Lodge: The critic praises the film's sensual, unhurried depiction of haute cuisine and the quiet, intuitive partnership between the leads as a deeply moving love story centered on food. It notes the minimal plot and conflict, with beauty and process holding the audience. [Read](https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/the-taste-of-things-review-la-passion-de-dodin-bouffant-1235623784/) - **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri: Celebrates the film's ravishing focus on food preparation and consumption as central to the characters' emotional lives, praising the leads' chemistry and the director's poetic languor. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/the-taste-of-things-review-delectable-and-maybe-radical.html) - **Collider**, Chase Hutchinson (9/10): The film is one of the most quietly beautiful and romantic ever made, telling a love story between two culinary artists. The critic singles out the spellbinding opening kitchen sequence for its immersive rhythm and splendor. [Read](https://collider.com/taste-of-things-review/) - **The Wrap** (90/100, inferred): It is an absolute delight, a refined, handsomely shot and soothing serving of art house food porn that prefers steaks to stakes, with wonderful depictions of food and strong performances from the leads. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/the-pot-au-feu-review-cannes-2023-juliette-binoche/) - **Deadline**, Damon Wise (70/100, inferred): The critic finds it a charming, artful but light soufflé of a film that celebrates the senses through its treatment of cookery as poetry and performance art, though the love story lacks depth. [Read](https://deadline.com/2023/05/the-pot-au-feu-review-tran-anh-hung-juliette-binoche-benoit-magimel-1235379211/) - **The Skinny**, Carmen Paddock (3/5): The critic finds the film lovingly prepared and beautiful but ultimately staid and undercharged emotionally, with its slow-simmering romance and food-as-love themes feeling removed from deeper feeling despite the visual adoration of the process. It remains a gorgeous but slight entry in the food-as-love canon. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/the-taste-of-things) - **Eye for Film**, Amber Wilkinson: Hùng's film is a sensuous celebration of savoring the moment through exquisite cooking, light, and a slow-burn romance between the leads, whose real-life history adds depth. The cinematography and attention to detail make it a visual and emotional treat about love expressed through effort and food. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-taste-of-things-2023-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson) - **HeyUGuys**, Jo-Ann Titmarsh: The film is a charming, nostalgic entry in the lineage of food-centric cinema like Babette's Feast, with meticulous kitchen scenes that will delight food lovers and a lovely portrayal of the central couple. It indulges in beauty and romance without hardship, making for an enjoyable feast. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/the-taste-of-things-pot-au-fue-review/) - **Paste**, Brianna Zigler (8.5): The film is a very nice and sweet tragic love story of sensory delights centered on food and a long-term bond. The critic singles out the sound design and tactile cooking scenes for creating an ASMR-like world of pleasure. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/new-york-film-festival-2023/the-taste-of-things-review) ## Details - **Director:** Trần Anh Hùng - **Director:** Trần Anh Hùng - **Screenplay:** Trần Anh Hùng - **Novel:** Marcel Rouff - **Cinematography:** Jonathan Ricquebourg - **Editor:** Mario Battistel - **Production design:** Toma Baquéni - **Costume design:** Trần Nữ Yên Khê - **Producer:** Olivier Delbosc - **Cast:** Benoît Magimel as Dodin Bouffant; Juliette Binoche as Eugénie; Patrick d'Assumçao as Grimaud; Emmanuel Salinger as Rabaz; Jan Hammenecker as Magot; Frédéric Fisbach as Beaubois; Galatea Bellugi as Violette; Pierre Gagnaire as Küchenchef des Prinzen - **Runtime:** 2h 15m - **Certificate (CH):** 10 - **Release (Switzerland):** 8 November 2023 - **Genres:** Romance, Drama - **Budget:** $6 million - **Box office:** $6 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeI-4eWvqwU ## Where to watch in Switzerland Not streaming, renting or buying in Switzerland at the last check. Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BR, CA, CL, CO, DE, EE, ES, FR, GB, IT, KR, LT, MX, NL, NZ, PA, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Babette's Feast* (1987), Fi1m 86: The film everyone compares this to, and rightly: one dinner, one woman, one gift — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/babettes-feast.md) - *Tampopo* (1985), Fi1m 84: A Japanese noodle comedy that takes eating as seriously and laughs at it more — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/tampopo.md) - *Eat Drink Man Woman* (1994), Fi1m 82: Ang Lee’s Taipei family cooks instead of talking; the opening kitchen sequence is a cousin — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/eat-drink-man-woman.md) - *Big Night* (1996), Fi1m 84: Two brothers, one restaurant, one last meal; the closing omelette is worth the wait — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/big-night.md) - *45 Years* (2015), Fi1m 88: Another long marriage examined without raised voices, in a colder house with worse food — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/45-years.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/the-taste-of-things