Set in France in 1889, The Taste of Things is a beautifully composed and scrupulously deployed feat of epicurean cinema and was France’s official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 2024 Academy Awards.  

Known as “The Napoleon of the culinary arts,” Dodin Bouffaunt (Benoit Magimel) is the most renowned gourmand in France, although he would be the first to credit his beloved cook and lover of 20 years, Eugénie (Juliette Binoche), who makes even his most whimsical dishes show up on the plate. They live together and share a long history of gastronomy, as their partnership has been around for a long time, becoming practical, intuitive, and intimate. When Dodin is faced with Eugenie’s reluctance to commit to marriage, he decides to do something that he has never done before: cook for her.  

Thirty years after his debut feature The Scent of Green Papaya won the Camera d’Or at Cannes, Tran Anh Hùng won the Best Director prize at Cannes last year with The Taste of Things (formerly The Pot-au-Feu).