The Taste of Others Le Gout des Autres

Agnes Jaoui, France, 2000, 112 minutes

This is one of those rare films which manage to show love and the human condition without falling into caricature. Winner of the Audience Award at the 2000 French Film Festival, and nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar, it has all the wit and dry humour as Jaoui’s previous Un Air De Famille.

The story centres around a self made businessman Mr Castella (played by joint writer Jean Pierre Bacri) who on advice of his Assistant starts to learn English from Clara (the fantastic Brigitte Catillon) a middle aged jobbing actress. Castella initially dismisses Clara, but when he chances upon her on a theatre visit with his fantastically fascistically tasteless wife Angelique (Chistianne Millett), he falls for Clara and tries to serenade her – seeing Clara as an escape route out of his own humdrum existence.

Unfortunately Clara’s prejudices of taste seem to be as strong as Angelique’s , and he is met with rejection. The story has a cast of characters with differing outlooks on life who are beautifully juxtaposed with hilarious consequences, in a story which constantly challenges one’s own prejudices.

Look out for director Agnes Jaoui, as boehemian drug dealer and bar maid Mani, as well as her recurring themes of women who care more for their dogs than the people around them, in her work.

Review by Stephen Brennan
Written for EUFS Programme Spring 2002