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TASTING MENU EXPERIENCE TURNS VIOLENT IN THIS DELICIOUSLY DARK SATIRE
THE MENU (15)
THE lofty pretensions of modern cuisine are gleefully skewered in a treacle-black satire directed by Mark Mylod.
Morally bankrupt characters get their just desserts, garnished with stomach-churning horror.
Superstar chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) is one of the rock stars of gastronomy, commanding eye-watering prices for the tasting menu at his exclusive island restaurant Hawthorne.
His patrons have all been specially chosen for a tasting experience they will never forget, overseen by his hostess Elsa (Hong Chau).
Among the excited throng are
waspish food critic Lillian (Janet McTeer), an egotistical film star (John Leguizamo) and an ardent foodie called Tyler (Nicholas Hoult), who has dragged along his nonplussed date Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy).
As the meal begins, chef Slowik and his team deliver his wicked concoctions and the heady aroma of violence hangs in the air.
The opening hour, before Fiennes’ epicurean ringmaster raises a silver-plated cloche and reveals the film’s twisted intentions, are the most delectable, gliding between conversations of unsuspecting diners as a regimented team of chefs makes pithy social commentary with a provocative bread plate.
The script is deliciously acidic in
ambiguous early exchanges, feeding our curiosity to the brink of gluttony.
Once the film-makers disclose the recipe of their ghoulish main course, incredulity begins to bubble over until the only ingredient left in the larder is a chunk of fullblown absurdity.
The Menu leaves an appealingly bitter taste in the mouth as Mylod marinades fatally flawed characters in guilt and dishonesty.
Fiennes’ cool, crisp delivery is beguiling, convincing us to swallow some of the script’s outlandish components in direct opposition to the logic of Taylor-Joy’s straight-talking interloper.
Take it all with a pinch of that Korean bamboo salt.
■ In cinemas Friday