UNE AFFAIRE DE GOÛT
A MATTER OF TASTE |
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Director:
Bernard Rapp
Screenplay: Gilles Taurand & Rapp, from the novel Affaires
de goût by Philippe Balland.
Cast: Frédéric Delamont: Bernard Giraudeau; Nicolas
Rivière: Jean-Pierre Lorit; Béatrice: Florence Thomassin;
René Rousset: Charles Berling.
Awards: Nominated for 5 César awards, including Best Film
and Best Actor (Giraudeau), 2001.
Running time: 90 minutes
Year of production: 1999
Rating: Not rated (sexual situations)
Gauge: 35mm, DVD (color)
Language: French
Distributor: Attitude Films
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“Straight-faced
and blithely ironic, [the film] is a tale of obsessive love, but here
it’s a deranged, Nietzschean self-love obsessed with palate refinement
and persona projection. Think of it as The Servant turned inside
out, with the relatively simple matter of inverted social roles becoming
a parable of corporate co-optation.” Michael Atkinson, The
Village Voice. |
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Asked
by a diner at the posh restaurant where he works to taste his hors
d’œuvre, Nicolas, a happy-go-lucky young waiter, readily
obliges. The diner, high-profile epicurean business mogul, Frédéric
Delamont, impressed by Nicolas’ discerning taste and charmed
by his manner, gives him his card. When Nicolas visits Delamont’s
luxurious mansion, Delamont sizes him up, remarks on the similarity
of their physiques and offers him an exorbitant salary to act as his
personal taster. Nicolas is delighted with his cushy new job, but
his girlfriend Béatrice senses trouble. Delamont keeps Nicolas
continuously on call, attempting to mold him into a replica of himself
while simultaneously relying on him for vicarious experiences. When
his relationship with Béatrice founders, Nicolas moves in with
Delamont, but the two soon discover that their increasing co-dependence,
rather than a stage on the way to the narcissistic unification Delamont
desires, is a sign of the faulty foundation of the relationship. But
who will prevail in the master-servant power game that follows? And
how, since the winner could well destroy both? Drenched with irony,
and crowned by a superb performance by Giraudeau, the film journeys
deep into the psychological absurd with both humor and conviction.
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| PHOTO Courtesy
of Attitude Films |
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