Delicious (PG, 112 mins) Streaming for rent on Academy on Demand, Apple TV, AroVision, in French with subtitles Directed by Eric Bresnard The summer of 1789. News of uprisings trickle out to the provinces, newspapers are thin on the ground, visitors infrequent, but there’s an awareness that the royal court might be about to collapse. In spite of that possibility, one talented provincial chef, Pierre Manceron (Gregory Gadebois), working for the pompous, entitled Duc de Chamfort (Benjamin Lavernhe) on his vast country estate, is keen to be picked to go to the king’s court in Paris to make his name.
When the Duc entertains some Parisian nobility, Manceron cooks up a storm. Dish after flamboyant and perfectly prepared dish is carried out of the kitchen on exquisite platters by liveried servants, each magnificent creation placed on a buffet table for the pretentious guests in their wigs and finery. But Manceron makes one fatal mistake: he goes off-menu.
Wanting to be innovative and further display his skill, he makes an extra amuse bouche, a beautifully crafted pastry case with truffle inside and potato on top, glistening with meticulously applied glaze. His kitchen-hand girlfriend names it Delicious. The fops at the table scoff at Delicious.
Deriding Manceron’s efforts, they mock him for using the potato. It’s provincial, like everything that grows below ground. Like spoiled children, they throw the little tart and other food around and the Duc, afraid of being ostracised.
