The Menu
Director: Mark Mylod
Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Fiennes, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau, Janet McTeer, Paul Adelstein, John Leguizamo, Aimee Carrero, Reed Birney, Judith Light, Rebecca Koon, Rob Yang, Arturo Castro, Mark St. Cyr
Expecting nothing less than the best of everything haute cuisine has to offer, a group of ultra-wealthy gastronomes with a demanding palate arrive at the Hawthorn: an exclusive culinary temple run by highly regarded gourmet chef Julian Slowik. (Ralph Fiennes) And prepared for an exquisite multiple-course meal and the experience of a lifetime, obsessive epicurean Tyler and his unimpressed plus-one Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) enter the private minimalist restaurant. At last, the long wait is over. However, no one knows that the cryptic genius in the kitchen has big plans for tonight. The imperious culinary artist has been stretching the boundaries of taste and fine dining for decades. Now, the host can finally unveil his magnum opus. But is the blasé clientele ready for Julian's creative madness?
It is interesting, this intricate dance of power that Margot and Chef share, as the story unfolds. When their meal begins, Margot is seated with her back to the Chef and when he is confronting her for the first time about eating the food, she is seated and he is towering over her; showing that in this moment, he is the more powerful figure. When he asks this question again to her, they are in the bathroom and the perspective has shifted. She starts out ABOVE him and then comes down to his level, as an equal, when confronting him about her identity. He is still in control, but that control is being challenged by her. When Margot stands up and claps her hands (a signal that, up until this point, has ONLY belonged to Chef) … she is now the one in control. She tells him exactly what she thinks of his food...that she is bored and unimpressed and still hungry and that she wants to send it all back. Rather than being insulted by her attack on his most cherished part of his identity, and killing her on the spot, as he did with the other victims, Chef actually seems to listen and respect Margot's opinion of him and when she challenges him (and it was, truly a challenge, because he would have recognized the deeper significance of why she asked for this particular meal, given she has seen the photo of him flipping hamburgers as a cherished employee at Hamburger Howie's...he is smiling and this is the only photo we see of Chef Julian where he looks truly happy and at peace and not isolated and sad and by asking him for a cheeseburger, Margot is telling him to go and find that happiness again. In the other pictures, he looks like a lost and lonely soul who yearns for peace but can no longer find it… until she gives it to him in this moment by ordering a simple cheeseburger. He indulges Margot when she tells the Chef to make her a simple cheeseburger. In this moment, we see the true Chef emerge...the one who was at his happiest when he was just a Chef in a burger restaurant, making simple food for customers who genuinely appreciated his food. The chef lost his love of cooking when it became pretentious and boring and was not genuinely appreciated by the customers who partook. They scoffed and criticized and dismissed him now and his art is not appreciated...until Margot/Erin comes in and enlightens Chef to the harsh truth that he must face...and in turn, Margot chooses her own place. When she is waiting for her cheeseburger, we see that Margot has changed seats. She is no longer sitting with her back in the room. Now, she is facing the room when Chef serves her.
That ten dollar bill that Margot gives Chef for that humble cheeseburger meal undoubtedly meant more to him than the tens of thousands of dollars given to him by each of the other customers for the more lavish menu. She showed genuine appreciation for his food and service, recognizing Chef as a kindred spirit. No buttery statements, no pompous aristo-brats ripping his art to shreds, both physically and metaphorically, and disrespecting his craft with their ignorant and long-winded critiques of his food. All Margot said was "now that's a burger" and they shared a look of mutual understanding and appreciation. There is also a subtle detail in that when he is preparing Margot’s burger, Chef uses a handkerchief to protect his hand from being burned while preparing Margot's burger, whereas during that rest of the film, he was super detached and even actively put his hand on the candle flame without fear nor reaction, as if his skin was immune to the fire’s burning kiss. In that moment of cooking a simple burger, he's human again and can feel emotion - instead of being the soulless, overlooked drone he has become while having to serve these rich, snobbish patrons.
I noticed in the last description of the S’mores dessert, the one name we did not see besides hers. Throughout this entire movie, there is a clear distinction between Chef and his staff. He lives separately from his staff, and he has the staff prepare all the food for his pompous guests. It is only in that final course that he decides to cook for Margot and make her the cheeseburger and when she gave him back this beautiful gift, the passion for cooking that he had lost, that made cooking so special to him, I think that's not only set her free, but it also set him free, as well, because his name was not listed among the dead. I feel like if he had died in the inferno, it would have said "Chef and staff" not just the staff. And the Chef did make it a point to show us that fire does not burn him and that there is another way out of the restaurant. This was Chef's way of purging himself from the pretentious, overly complicated, boring, unappreciated style of cooking to go back to where he really wanted to be… just a simple Chef cooking cheeseburgers for a satisfied customer. That is how I interpreted it at least. She savored his food, and she gave him back his true love of cooking. He thanks her by allowing her to live and be in a separate group apart from them.
The Menu is my favorite kind of horror film. It starts off at a slow burn, allowing us to understand the characters and their stories, and as the story unfolds, the heat intensifies before exploding into the final act. The casting for this movie is stellar, particularly for Ralph Fiennes as Chef Julian and Anya Taylor-Joy as Margot who are both giving their all to this performance. The visual storytelling was just as creative as the spoken story and gave us a deeper and richer perspective of both of these characters that allowed us to appreciate their individual journeys.
© 2024 Keriane Kellogg All Rights Reserved
Director: Mark Mylod
Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Fiennes, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau, Janet McTeer, Paul Adelstein, John Leguizamo, Aimee Carrero, Reed Birney, Judith Light, Rebecca Koon, Rob Yang, Arturo Castro, Mark St. Cyr
Expecting nothing less than the best of everything haute cuisine has to offer, a group of ultra-wealthy gastronomes with a demanding palate arrive at the Hawthorn: an exclusive culinary temple run by highly regarded gourmet chef Julian Slowik. (Ralph Fiennes) And prepared for an exquisite multiple-course meal and the experience of a lifetime, obsessive epicurean Tyler and his unimpressed plus-one Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) enter the private minimalist restaurant. At last, the long wait is over. However, no one knows that the cryptic genius in the kitchen has big plans for tonight. The imperious culinary artist has been stretching the boundaries of taste and fine dining for decades. Now, the host can finally unveil his magnum opus. But is the blasé clientele ready for Julian's creative madness?
It is interesting, this intricate dance of power that Margot and Chef share, as the story unfolds. When their meal begins, Margot is seated with her back to the Chef and when he is confronting her for the first time about eating the food, she is seated and he is towering over her; showing that in this moment, he is the more powerful figure. When he asks this question again to her, they are in the bathroom and the perspective has shifted. She starts out ABOVE him and then comes down to his level, as an equal, when confronting him about her identity. He is still in control, but that control is being challenged by her. When Margot stands up and claps her hands (a signal that, up until this point, has ONLY belonged to Chef) … she is now the one in control. She tells him exactly what she thinks of his food...that she is bored and unimpressed and still hungry and that she wants to send it all back. Rather than being insulted by her attack on his most cherished part of his identity, and killing her on the spot, as he did with the other victims, Chef actually seems to listen and respect Margot's opinion of him and when she challenges him (and it was, truly a challenge, because he would have recognized the deeper significance of why she asked for this particular meal, given she has seen the photo of him flipping hamburgers as a cherished employee at Hamburger Howie's...he is smiling and this is the only photo we see of Chef Julian where he looks truly happy and at peace and not isolated and sad and by asking him for a cheeseburger, Margot is telling him to go and find that happiness again. In the other pictures, he looks like a lost and lonely soul who yearns for peace but can no longer find it… until she gives it to him in this moment by ordering a simple cheeseburger. He indulges Margot when she tells the Chef to make her a simple cheeseburger. In this moment, we see the true Chef emerge...the one who was at his happiest when he was just a Chef in a burger restaurant, making simple food for customers who genuinely appreciated his food. The chef lost his love of cooking when it became pretentious and boring and was not genuinely appreciated by the customers who partook. They scoffed and criticized and dismissed him now and his art is not appreciated...until Margot/Erin comes in and enlightens Chef to the harsh truth that he must face...and in turn, Margot chooses her own place. When she is waiting for her cheeseburger, we see that Margot has changed seats. She is no longer sitting with her back in the room. Now, she is facing the room when Chef serves her.
That ten dollar bill that Margot gives Chef for that humble cheeseburger meal undoubtedly meant more to him than the tens of thousands of dollars given to him by each of the other customers for the more lavish menu. She showed genuine appreciation for his food and service, recognizing Chef as a kindred spirit. No buttery statements, no pompous aristo-brats ripping his art to shreds, both physically and metaphorically, and disrespecting his craft with their ignorant and long-winded critiques of his food. All Margot said was "now that's a burger" and they shared a look of mutual understanding and appreciation. There is also a subtle detail in that when he is preparing Margot’s burger, Chef uses a handkerchief to protect his hand from being burned while preparing Margot's burger, whereas during that rest of the film, he was super detached and even actively put his hand on the candle flame without fear nor reaction, as if his skin was immune to the fire’s burning kiss. In that moment of cooking a simple burger, he's human again and can feel emotion - instead of being the soulless, overlooked drone he has become while having to serve these rich, snobbish patrons.
I noticed in the last description of the S’mores dessert, the one name we did not see besides hers. Throughout this entire movie, there is a clear distinction between Chef and his staff. He lives separately from his staff, and he has the staff prepare all the food for his pompous guests. It is only in that final course that he decides to cook for Margot and make her the cheeseburger and when she gave him back this beautiful gift, the passion for cooking that he had lost, that made cooking so special to him, I think that's not only set her free, but it also set him free, as well, because his name was not listed among the dead. I feel like if he had died in the inferno, it would have said "Chef and staff" not just the staff. And the Chef did make it a point to show us that fire does not burn him and that there is another way out of the restaurant. This was Chef's way of purging himself from the pretentious, overly complicated, boring, unappreciated style of cooking to go back to where he really wanted to be… just a simple Chef cooking cheeseburgers for a satisfied customer. That is how I interpreted it at least. She savored his food, and she gave him back his true love of cooking. He thanks her by allowing her to live and be in a separate group apart from them.
The Menu is my favorite kind of horror film. It starts off at a slow burn, allowing us to understand the characters and their stories, and as the story unfolds, the heat intensifies before exploding into the final act. The casting for this movie is stellar, particularly for Ralph Fiennes as Chef Julian and Anya Taylor-Joy as Margot who are both giving their all to this performance. The visual storytelling was just as creative as the spoken story and gave us a deeper and richer perspective of both of these characters that allowed us to appreciate their individual journeys.
© 2024 Keriane Kellogg All Rights Reserved