Something that is taken so completely for granted today, the act of eating food in a restaurant is given a historic outline in Éric Besnard’s Delicious. Utilising real facts and then dramatising them, he creates the environment in which the world’s first restaurant came to fruition.
Set in France in the seventeen-eighties right before the Revolution. Fine food was only the privilege of the rich and entitled. It was their way of sharing their status and wealth and as such a quality chef was a prized employee. They also held their job at the whim of their employer.
Master chef Pierre Manceron (Grégory Gadebois) has a falling out with his employer, the extremely pretentious Le duc de Chamfort (Benjamin Lavernhe) and leaves his employ. He ends up in a roadside stop and later becomes convicted to turn it into a place for the common folk to enjoy fine food.
Introduced into this delectable mix is also the mystery that is Louise (Isabelle Carré). This cutting take on the pitfalls of privilege sets up a most satisfying battleground between the uber-rich and entitled and the common man in a time right before many of those same rich and entitled met a ghastly end via the blade of the guillotine.
Rob Hudson
www.palacecinemas.com.au/
