The Menu was directed by Mark Mylod and launched in 2022 to much fanfare. With its A-list cast featuring Anya Taylor-Joy and Ralph Fiennes, plus its unusual concept, this one gained a lot of press and film buff interest.
Whilst its not perfect, and meanders a lot in its second act, the first hour is great fun entertainment and well worth a gander. YES CHEF!
A Serving of Two Halves in The Menu
The film begins with wealthy young Tyler Ledford (Nicholas Hoult) and his date Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) heading off to the exclusive restaurant Hawthorn. The only way there is by boat as the restaurant is on a private island
Legendary Chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) runs the gaff. It’s become famous for its stunningly high standards for haute cuisine with a narrative twist. It’s also a dining destination for the rich and famous.
After a tour of island, the guests are led indoors and the meal begins.
Everything is all very austere and the laidback Margot clashes with the venue’s focus on extreme highbrow sophistication. Which includes the first sighting of Chef Slowik. Throughout the night, he gets everyone’s attention with a tinnitus-inducing smack of his hands.
Despite the venue costing a goddamn fortune to dine at, one of Chef Slowik’s starters is a kind of postmodernist concept of a breadless plate. This annoys hungry customers, who complain about the service.
With each passing course, meticulously put together by the Chef Slowik’s team, it becomes apparent something is a little off. That Slowik is maybe not mentally all there.
But this first hour is the best bit of The Menu, with these absurdly fancy, extravagant, and pretentious meals being rolled out to egotistical rich people. Some of these foodie inventions are great fun, all delivered to guests just startled by Slowik’s hand clap.
Only Margot remains baffled by all the pomp and ceremony.
As the narrative rumbles on, it’s revealed she’s a high-end escort accompanying Tyler to the venue. Chef Slowik makes it clear he wasn’t expecting her, hinting that Tyler has had a recent divorce/breakup leading to hiring Margot so he could attend Hawthorn.
The second half of the film follows the Chef’s motive for increasingly weird food being delivered to that night’s customers. Namely, he’s (AND THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD):
- Had enough of this cooking lark
- Lost his mind
- Wants to get revenge on snotty rich people eating at his restaurant for the status kick
- Decided everyone at the venue must die
There’s a similar theme explored in the excellent Nic Cage drama Pig (2019). In that film, Cage’s retired chef calmly remonstrates with a former colleague about his abandonment of genuine cooking passions (pub grub, as opposed to the haute cuisine that’s made him a success).
It’s much the same in The Menu, with Slowik’s roots being in a greasy spoon café dating back to 1987. Pictures from that restaurant show him happy and smiling. Now, he’s angry and bitter. There’s one bit where Fiennes is staring sternly, almost in disgust, at his guests and shouts:
“Eat!”
That startles the guests into eating. Moments like that are funny and exactly our sort of humour—people having paid a fortune for this fancy meal, sitting in misery as this lunatic stalks them with food.
Away from the funny bits, the social commentary is pretty surface level and doesn’t need much analysis. And the second half of the film is a little dull and repetitive (the character actors don’t have much to do except sit in their dinner table seats looking stressed). Plus, the ending is nothing memorable.
HOWEVER! Despite not maintaining its peaks, The Menu’s first hour is bloody delicious and we really enjoyed the presentation of the first act. That makes it more than worthwhile to have a watch, even if the dip kicks in toward the end.
Frankly, it’s all worth it to see Fiennes’ darkly amusing take on the intense Slowik.
The Production of The Menu
Scriptwriter Will Tracy got the idea for the film after visiting Norway’s popular seafood joint Cornelius Sjømatrestaurant, which is set on a private island. You have to use a boat to get out there.
However, it’s not a super posh place and promotes a casual dress code. According to the opening hours, it runs from 6pm to 10:30pm Monday to Saturday and is reservation only (as you’d expect, rather than swimming out there by yourself).
As for The Menu, the French chef Dominique Crenn created the extravagant foodstuffs for the film. She works in America and is the only female chef in the US with three Michelin stars for her San Francisco restaurant Atelier Crenn.
The film was shot in Savannah, Georgia, with Jekyll Island shore one location, and began in September of 2021. Many COVID-19 protocol were still in effect during filming.
As for the cast, Emma Stone was initially intended for the lead female role, but dropped out due to being busy with other stuff. This allowed Anya Taylor-Joy to take the role.
Ralph Fiennes was intended as one of the leads from the start of the project.
The film was a surprise Oscar contender for the leads, with both nominated. Fiennes is clearly relishing the role and having a lot of fun with it. Kind of a maudlin take on his work in The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014).
Critically, it was well-received. And off its $30 million budget it made back $79.6 million at the global box office. A solid enough hit for a film with a lot of panache.
