The Taste of Others (2000)

This is a wonderful film and I found the way that it deals with the issue of taste very appealing.Castella is portrayed as a 'philistine', without taste as it were. This is a bigger thing in France than here in Austrlia, and the French language equivalent of the phrase 'bad taste' which is 'de mauvais gout' is to be avoided. Although in Australia we love to laugh at Kath & Kim, and 'The Castle', which represents bad taste to us.The thing is, some people seem to act like taste is a matter of 'breeding' and education. For example you may currently line your shelves with Toby mugs, and have personalised numberplate's, but with a little (or a lot depending on how little 'breeding' you have) education you are not beyond an appreciation of the maxim "less is more".However this film shows that while Castella maybe seen as uncouth, in the way that he would prefer Pro Hart to Sidney Nolan, Robert G. Barrett to Peter Carey, these loves are his loves, and he should not also be seen as 'thick' because of them. Or perhaps the elements of pop culture (or even kitsch culture) have the same intrinsic value, as those of high culture.I personally found it a more enjoyable film because of this element to the story.

When Hollywood re-makes "The Taste of Others (Le Gout des Autres)" it will just manage to change everything in this delightful Woody Allen meets Eric Rohmer ensemble piece that it will be awful.Here you have chaos theory at work as tiny coincidences of gradually revealed links between people whose lives wouldn't usually intersect (from an ex-cop to artists to a business executive) set off dramatic changes (or consideration of changes) in their lives. Such that something one contact says to another is then taken out of context to cause communication problems when it's passed on to another.A lot of the triumph has to do with director/co-writer Agnes Jaoui's penchant for long shots and her trust in the actors (but then she and her husband--who also co-wrote the script--are also co-stars, though not an on-screen couple). For example, two casual lovers meet up in a restaurant, and the guy introduces her to his co-worker. That sparks fly between the new pair is communicated without close-up leers or touching and with bare conversation. The woe-be-gone boss drags two employees to a strip joint for distraction, and that each guy is at a different stage in his romantic travails is reflected in each's face and body language-- and we never even see the strippers, something Hollywood can never resist showing. We root for the unexpected couples as well as their self-understanding, and they make unexpected yet believable choices. The naturalness of their interactions is laugh-out-loud funny in a knowing way, and breath-catchingly poignant.Those of you intellectuals who are already familiar with "Hedda Gabler" won't be sandbagged by one scene as I was.It deservedly won a slew of French Cesars.(originally written 3/3/2001)

This was such a good movie. A wonderful investigation of the way our opinions about others are often influenced by their tastes. The main character, Castella, is so wonderfully out of touch with "culture", but his slow transformation through the film left me rooting for him and anything that he wanted to experience, sometimes aloud. Highly recommended for those who love character-driven movies.

This film teaches us to appreciate "The Taste Of Others". It's about embracing the differences in others, while loving yourself for being different. We all judge people because they are not like us. If you really look and learn, you will see that these people have something to offer. They have a new and different perspective on things. Alright, enough preaching. I'll let the movie speak for itself.There is alot of talking in this film and not alot of action like in the film "Amelie". If you don't speak french, you are in for alot of subtitle reading. Still you will get alot out of it. Even though it was a major winner at the Cesar awards(French Oscar's), it's pretty good just the same. ENJOY!!