Food and drink co-star in ripening Hollywood genre
Cinema’s relationship with food and drink has always been a complicated affair. Sometimes it is abusive, as Mae Clark, with her face full of grapefruit, learned from James Cagney in “The Public Enemy.” Sometimes it is unrequited, as Tony Shalhoub learned from ungrateful customers in “Big Night.” Now and then it amounts to a glorious epiphany, as in “Sideways,” when Paul Giamatti rhapsodized to Virginia Madsen about the delicate, even haunting properties of pinot noir.
A little bit of food can go a long way in the movies: Think of Sue Lyons’s lollipop in “Lolita,” the chicken salad sandwich in “Five Easy Pieces” or Diane Keaton’s pastrami on white with mayo in “Annie Hall.” And occasionally food threatens to steal the show, as in “Babette’s Feast” and “Like Water for Chocolate.”
The eating and drinking in these films are as much a reflection of character as the clothes the actors wear or the manner in which they speak. Such culinary verisimilitude has usually delighted critics but has not always translated into popularity among filmgoers: The roughly $71 million in domestic ticket sales for Alexander Payne’s “Sideways” (2004), which matched that of the Lasse Hallstrom film “Chocolat,” represents the high- water mark for movies that dwell on food and fine wine.
In the coming year, however, a wave of ambitious studio films will try to capitalize on a growing appreciation for all things epicurean. In November, 20th Century Fox is scheduled to release “A Good Year,” in which a London investment banker, played by Russell Crowe, inherits a vineyard in Provence. And Warner Brothers recently finished filming a remake of the German film “Mostly Martha” in New York, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones as a controlling chef and Aaron Eckhart as her culinary opposite, an earthy Italian-American named Nick. Also on the horizon is “The Food of Love,” based on the novel by Anthony Capella, which reimagines the Cyrano de Bergerac story as a contemporary romance set in Rome with gastronomy as the poetry of seduction. The project will combine two of the director Peter Chelsom’s passions: romance and Italian food. more…
