DELICIOUS is a sweet treat that sometimees tastes bitter
Directed by Eric Besnard
Written by Eric Besnard and Nicolas Boukhrief
Starring Gregory Gradebois, Isabelle Carre, Benajmin Lavernhe, and Lorenzo Lefebvre
Runtime: 112 minutes
In theaters, video on demand and digital January 14
by Miguel Alejandro Marquez, Staff Writer
The year is 1789, right at the beginning of the french revolution. A chef is forced to reinvent himself after being fired by his pretentious aristocratic boss. He is told to apologize for something he isn’t responsible for in order to get back his old position. The chef does not. Instead, the chef goes on an adventure of self discovery and self respect. This is Delicious, a film that tells the story of the first restaurant.
Delicious is a cinematic endeavor by the great writer/director Eric Besnard, who has worked on such projects as Cash Truck (which would be the basis of the 2021 film Wrath of Man), Babylon A.D, and The Sense of Wonder. Delicious has Besnard try to find beauty and despair in the french countryside.
At the center of Delicious, is the story of a chef with a lot on his plate, from a bookworm son (played by Lorenzo Lefebvre) who has a hard time connecting to his stoic father, to an older female apprentice (played by Isabelle Carre) who’s trying her best to run away from her past.
The story drags as it goes from character dynamic to character dynamic in search of a sustainable plot. The sexual dynamic between the older woman and the chef was odd to say the least. The female apprentice’s inclusion felt shoehorned. Her existence at the beginning of the film ruined the first act’s build of a main character trying to find himself, making it become a Karate Kid-ish plot of two people who have the chemistry of two baked potatoes.
There were some positives in the film's plot. The film plays out like a 18th century retelling of Jon Favreau’s Chef (2014). Both Chef and Delicious follow grown men who want to change their statuses in life, but are met with challenges by their bosses. They regain some clarity by going on a journey of self discovery with their sons. This film surprisingly hits the exact same notes as Chef and all you would have to do to make them the same film would be to just change out the modern road trip atmosphere found in Chef with the graceful landscapes of France, and you’d get Delicious.
Delicious is not a bad film, just a painfully obvious one. The problems held by characters are readily apparent and their solutions are already thought up by the audience before they occur on screen. The cinematography and direction of the piece was stunning at times, especially when showcasing the multiple dishes made, but when it came to the location of the film, the home of the main protagonist, nothing special was cooked up to make the world and its characters dynamic. It was passable and usable. This was, sad to say, an average film.
Besides the mistakes listed, there was a lot to enjoy from Besnard’s recent outing. The beginning of the film was strong. There was a real sprint towards something profound in the first ten minutes, with an artist trying to come to grips with whether or not he’s doing the right thing by trying to please his audience. There is no real joy in the chef’s life. His goal is to restore his honor with the duke, his boss, but it seems that he is just as happy/unhappy being on his farm. There is no real incentive for him to do anything. The lack of subtlety in the protagonist’s dilemma is troubling. This critic could break down the story’s structure, and the future of the character’s actions, within the first fifteen minutes.
The film was an average, paint-by-the-numbers romp that needed real cinematic zest in order for it stand out from the rest of the films from this year. Watch Delicious if you want a dish that’s sustainable for most palettes, but lacking any complexity to make it stand out from what else is on this year’s plate.