The Taste of Others

The first impression one gets from the Anglicized title of this delightful French film Le Goût des Autres may be misleading. Strike any images from your mind of a Hannibal Lecter redux set in Paris or some erotic movie that uses food objects as sex toys. The idiomatic French might be better translated as something like “different strokes” or “to each his own.” This film also has a generosity of spirit whose totality equals so much more than any description of its parts. The Taste of Others tosses together members of different social and aesthetic circles and watches as they circle each other, sniffing out sensibilities and impressions and either rejecting or nosing around further as their initial antipathies develop into something more deep-seated. The actions and events here are secondary to the small cracks in the social veneers that become visible when the characters interact or hold themselves aloof. Tremendously popular in its home country of France, The Taste of Others often feels like an Eric Rohmer film in which people reveal themselves through their conversations, yet it's more youthful and humorous and less moralistic in tone. Jean-Pierre Bacri (who co-wrote the film with his wife, first-time director Agnès Jaoui, who also appears in a key role) stars as Castella, an industrialist in an urban French city. Two bodyguards (Chabat and Lanvin) have been assigned to accompany him until he closes an unspecified deal with some Iranians. He also hires Clara (Alvaro) to teach him English, but dismisses her because her methods are not “fun.” Then he accompanies his wife to the theatre where unbeknowst to him, Clara has the lead in the play, and seeing Clara in this context casts her in a whole new light. He becomes smitten with Clara and her bohemian friends and insinuates himself into their company every chance he gets. Clara is put off by his boorishness and lack of taste, while others in her group exploit his patronage. There's also a parallel relationship happening between one of the bodyguards and the bartender (Jaoui) at the place next to the theatre where they all hang out. And there's Castella's wife, the movie's token bad guy or foil, who has greater compassion for animals than people and is an interior decorator whose taste for chintz steamrolls over everything else in its path. The entire cast is marvelous and capable of conveying continents of emotion with a furtive smile or arched brow. The Taste of Others is a romantic comedy at heart and toward that end it might have been possible to mix things up a bit more than it does in the last third. However, when all is said and done, the movie will entertain and provoke, and leave a flavorful memory behind.