By Reader Staff
Critically acclaimed 2023 French film The Taste of Things will show in a matinee presentation Sunday, Nov. 1 at the Panida Theater (300 N. First Ave., in downtown Sandpoint).
The French-language film — with English subtitles — stars Benoît Magimel and Juliette Binoche in a historical romance set in the late 1800s, centered on gourmet Dodin Bouffant (Magimel) and the cook who works for him, Eugénie (Binoche). Dodin and Eugénie have been in a longtime romance, though the latter has repeatedly refused the former’s proposals of marriage. Regardless, their affections are only matched by their mutual respect as culinary artists. The dynamics of their relationship alter when one of the new assistants on the estate Pauline, played by Bonnie Chagneau-Ravoire, displays preternatural skills in the kitchen.
The primary action of the film stems from the preparation for a lavish feast to be served for a visiting prince and the interplay of Dodin, Eugénie and Pauline, who form a kind of family bound together by their shared talents for and pleasure in cooking.
The Taste of Things is a quiet film that contemplates love as a language expressed through food, providing the connections that make up a shared life.
With a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, reviews refer to it as a “sumptuous feast for the senses” and a “romantic, old-fashioned cinephile delight.”
Based on the 1920 novel The Passionate Epicure, by Marcel Rouff, rogerebert.com gave The Taste of Things 3.5 stars out of four, and the film won Trần Anh Hùng a Best Director award at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
The screening is part of the Panida’s effort to increase its cinematic offerings more regularly through the theater’s upcoming centennial year in 2027, and follows a recent survey that showed local movie buffs favor a mix of independent, foreign, documentary, golden age and family films.
Doors open 30 minutes before the 2 p.m. showing, with adult general admission tickets for $10.50 and student and senior tickets (55+) for $7.50, available at the door or panida.org.
