The Menu reminded me of a recent Cannes Festival winner called The Square. That was about the art world, and how easy it is to be persuaded by so-called experts. The Emperor’s New Clothes syndrome, in other words.
Well The Menu is similarly aimed at the top tier of food-lovers.
An exclusive group of foodies are invited to Hawthorn the remote restaurant of world famous Chef Slowik, played by Ralph Fiennes.
Photo: Screenshot
The cost of admission is a small fortune, and nobody’s more excited than culinary geek Tyler, played by Nicholas Hoult.
The other guests are the types you’d expect to see at a place like this – the notoriously harsh food critic, the jaded old rich couple, the Silicon Valley yuppies and the out to impress Hollywood star.
Or at least they’re the types you’d expect if you were a regular consumer of celebrity chef TV shows and magazines.
When chef Slowik steps out with a deafening clap, he’s clearly very aware of his place in the food universe.
He’s the king, everyone else is either a servant – “Yes chef!” – or worse, a guest. Slowik uses that word almost as a term of abuse.
But the guests lap it up. The more the chef insults them, the more it shows how superior he is, and therefore how superior they are for choosing – and paying – to come to this exclusive place.
The one guest who’s less than impressed is Tyler’s date for the evening. Margo is played by Anya Taylor-Joy, who finally won me over in The Menu after several OK performances in mostly OK movies.
She’s wonderful here as, essentially, the kid pointing out the emperor’s shortage of clothes.
It seems Margo wasn’t Tyler’s first choice. His actual date bailed, so Margo is very much a last-minute substitute, and has clearly no respect for the protocols of a place like this. She’s certainly unfamiliar with perfectly common gourmet expressions like “mouthfeel”
She also seems the only one who thinks it’s a little sinister that the boat that dropped them off has now departed. There’s no escape, in other words, until they reach the end of the menu.
And it’s a long menu, in which each course has been planned to dazzle. The dishes, incidentally, were all prepared for the film by a genuine three Michelin star chef, though they look more like works of art than an actual meal.
The guests gush, of course - all but Margo who’s getting a little peckish now.
And it’s clear that Chef Slowik is increasingly irritated by Margo. She shouldn’t be here, he says.
The Menu is clearly a satire on the sort of people with more money than taste. Though you’d think its target – restaurants whose miniscule portions seem to be concocted in a laboratory – is a pretty obvious one.
However, two standout performances justify the price of admission. Fiennes brings unexpected flavours to the role of the master chef losing his taste for the game.
And Taylor-Joy - usually a rather exotic ingredient in a cinematic dish - here gives The Menu some much-needed gristle.
The original director for The Menu was going to be Alexander Payne, who’d done a similar job with wine in the film Sideways.
His replacement, TV director Mark Mylod – of Succession fame – certainly does a good job turning the spotlight on the soulless rich. But like the courses of The Menu, while the film’s great to look at, it’s ultimately a little unsatisfying.
