A Matter of Taste

Starring:Bernard Giraudeau, Jean-Pierre Lorit, Florence Thomassin, Charles Berling, Jean-Pierre LÃ©aud, Artus de Penguern, Laurent Spielvogel, Elisabeth Macocco, Anne-Marie Philipe, Delphine Zingg, David D'Ingeo, FrÃ©dÃ©ric De Goldfiem, Patrick Zimmermann, Claude Lesko, Vincent Tepernowski, Valentina Sauca, Pasquale Hugo D'Inca, Alain Blazquez, HÃ©lÃ¨ne NÃ©, Philippe Chavent
Director: Bernard Rapp
Studio: TLA Releasing
Product Type: DVD

Customer Reviews:

Taste of Fear.......2007-01-11

Hitchcock would have loved this psychological thriller about a young man whose life is taken over by the wealthy businessman who hires him as his professional food taster.

Average customer rating:

"He'd have sold his soul for tripe."
Intelligent
Film Festival Fare
Provocative French thriller
Seduction does indeed take many forms

A Matter of Taste
Starring: Bernard Giraudeau , Jean-Pierre Lorit , Florence Thomassin , Charles Berling , and Jean-Pierre Léaud
Director: Bernard Rapp
Manufacturer: TLA Releasing
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00006ADF4
Release Date: 2002-08-20

Description

Bernard Giraudeau, Charles Berling, Florence Thomassin, Jean Pierre Lorit - Director: Bernard Rapp Nicolas, a handsome, young waiter, is befriended by Frederic Delamont, a wealthy middle-aged businessman. Delamont, a man of power, influence and strictly refined tastes, is immediately smitten by Nicolas' charm. Lonely and phobic, Delamont offers Nicolas a lucrative job as his personal food taster. In spite of their differences, a close friendship begins to emerge between the two men. However, their bond of trust and admiration soon spirals downward into a dangerous game of deceit and obsession for which neither is prepared.

Customer Reviews:

"He'd have sold his soul for tripe.".......2005-01-15

In the dark and disturbing film "A Matter of Taste", a young waiter, Nicolas Riviere (Jean-Pierre Larit) is shocked when wealthy middle-aged businessman Frederic Delamont (Bernard Girardeau) slips him his phone number and tells Nicolas to call for a job. Nicolas lives with his long-time girlfriend, Beatrice (Florence Thomassin), and three other people in a communal flat, and a job with Delamont represents a huge financial and social leap. Nicolas is stunned when he's employed by Delamont to be an official taster. The job includes a huge salary, and Nicolas jet sets all over the world with Delamont. Delamont, who has an aversion to fish and cheese, expects Nicolas to sample all the food offered in various glitzy restaurants, and then make a selection for business acquaintances.

It soon becomes apparent that Delamont is far more than just another decadent millionaire--there's some nasty business afoot. Delamont establishes his dominance by a series of trials, and Nicolas goes along with it. It is as if Nicolas gradually loses his personality, and becomes a poor shadow of Delamont. They dress similarly, and even sport the exact same model of watch. Nicolas is too happy to get the money and the lifestyle to stop and ask questions--even when things become very, very peculiar ...

The film is presented with a frame format. When it begins, the viewer is shown various details from the present that give away some essential elements of the plot, and then the story goes back in time and traces how Nicolas and Delamont first met. The story then flashes forward with interviews held with various people who know Nicolas. This well-structured frame device spoils some of the surprise element of the story, and some of the interviews seem a bit pointless. Nonetheless, in spite of the fact that the suspense is slightly comprised by the film's structure, the film is gripping and keeps one's interest until the very last scene. By far the most fascinating (and troubled) character here is Delamont. He's finicky to the point of obsession, and incredibly decadent. His character reminded me of Duc Jean Floressas de Esseintes from the novel "Against Nature" by French decadent writer Huysmans. Impeccable acting--in French with English subtitles--displacedhuman

Intelligent.......2004-08-16

Intelligent dialogues. Might be slightly slow for the american standards but the subtility of Bernard Rapp's way of observing human behaviour is very interesting and well filmed. Gireaudeau is excellent as often.

Film Festival Fare.......2002-10-02

This movie played at the Seattle International Film Festival in 2001 and I happened to catch it. The plot follows a wealthy, powerful business man and the waiter he hires to become his food taster. A strange premise, but I thought, rife with possibilities. Sexual undertones are suggested and a power struggle ensues as the employer tries to involve his new employee in increasingly bizarre activites. Overall, an enjoyable movie, but definitely film festival fare. The version I saw was French with English subtitles.

Provocative French thriller.......2002-01-03

Bernard Rapp's tight and unusual thriller is constructed in flashback, a la "Looking for Mr. Goodbar." A terrible crime has been committed and the events that led to it are slowly dissected. The plot unfolds as a disturbing and peculiarly Gallic version of the Pygmalion story, with Bernard Giraudeau and Jean-Pierre Lorit giving masterful performances as a rich businessman and ne'er-do-well waiter entwined in an increasingly perverse and strange relationship, though it is never clear whether the employer's attraction for his handsome employee is motivated by sexual desire or some darker attraction. It is to this film's credit that it achieves its unsettling effect on the viewer without resorting to graphic sex or violence, and no slander to say that memories of Hitchcock are evoked during its course, particularly "Rope" and "Strangers on a Train." Highly recommended.

Seduction does indeed take many forms.......2001-09-28

Nicolas Riviere (Jean-Pierre Lorit) is unaware that his employment as Frederic Delamont's (Bernard Giraudeau) taster will put him on a dark spiraling path to oblivion. It starts out innocently enough but soon Delamont is obsessed by Riviere and in turn Riviere become entranced by Delamont, his wealth and his ever extreme lifestyle. Soon Nicolas is tasting more than food for Delamont. The relationship between the two men is extremely erotic but you don't really know if they've become lovers or not. Nicolas' girlfriend thinks so, but everything is open to intepretation among the lies and deceptions.

Customer Reviews:

informative, girly, Latin, etc........2007-02-22

Our taste buds only have four receptors: sweet, sour, bitter, and salty (maybe?) Some people have many taste receptors; others have few, but the work doesn't say this is related to weight in any way. The etymology for "companion" is "for whom one eats bread." I love learning new stuff.

This work was very girly. The narrator is a woman who hosts a chi-chi, Manhattan-based dinner party and spends too much camera time ordering chocolate. All of the taste researchers shown were women. The narrator spoke with a soft, vampy voice that would have shamed Martha Stewart. This work could have focused on fat, male, football fans or guys that frequent all-you-can-eat buffets. In striking contrast, it takes a very feminine route.

The work is also very Latin. It touches on Asia (and shamefully never mentions Africa or the Black Diaspora), but focuses on Latin America as a comparative note to the West. The camera and narrator focus on an indigenous Mexican woman's cooking and never once comment that she lived in a shack and had a dirt floor. They discuss how Columbus raved about chili peppers. It brings the feminine and Latin aspects together by speaking of how Cortez failed to learn how Native women enhanced the niacin in tortillas. I appreciated this multi-culti twist.

Miscellanea. It talks of how smell and taste work together, but I wish it had included sight. They show a woman (with a cleft chin) enjoying a grape lollipop but not knowing it's grape. Some food makers add purple coloring to grape-flavored food because people wouldn't believe it has grape in it otherwise. The work focuses on children's taste buds, but says nothing of the elderly, who may lose taste sensations. It mentions fugu, but says nothing of Homer Simpsons' bad experience with the dish. The narrator raves, "We have so many food options now!" However, this may play a role in the obesity epidemic that the US faces and other nations may face soon. One researcher asks children what they think of pizza ingredients and it ends up being a product placement for Sbarro. There is a fascinating Brit named Nicholas Lander interviewed here. He wears those cool John Lennon specs. Most importantly, he has the world's deepest chin dimple. He could put Joe Namath, Steven Pemberton, and Henry Rollins to shame. Mother Nature must have used her biggest ax when she chopped his chin dimple into place! What Dolly Parton is to a certain body part, he is to cleft chins.

Average customer rating:

"He'd have sold his soul for tripe."
Intelligent
Film Festival Fare
Provocative French thriller
Seduction does indeed take many forms

A Matter of Taste [Region 2]
Starring: Bernard Giraudeau , Jean-Pierre Lorit , Florence Thomassin , Charles Berling , and Jean-Pierre Léaud
Director: Bernard Rapp
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Thrillers | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Mysterious Skin (Deluxe Unrated Director's Edition)
Cote D'Azur
As Luck Would Have It
Regular Guys
Cowboys & Angels

ASIN: B000056CUE

Customer Reviews:

"He'd have sold his soul for tripe.".......2005-01-15

Intelligent.......2004-08-16

Film Festival Fare.......2002-10-02

Provocative French thriller.......2002-01-03

Seduction does indeed take many forms.......2001-09-28

Product Description

Nicolas, a handsome, young waiter, is befriended by Frédéric Delamont, a wealthy middle-aged businessman. Delamont, a man of power, influence and strictly refined tastes, is immediately smitten by Nicolas' charm. Lonely and phobic, Delamont offers Nicolas a lucrative job as his personal food taster. In spite of their differences, a close friendship begins to emerge between the two men. However, their bond of trust and admiration soon spirals downward into a dangerous game of deceit and obsession for which neither is prepared.

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