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| Um..decadence and luxury anyone? Kirsten Dunst in the Sophia Coppola film has it all. |
In honour of the upcoming London Film Festival, my mind instantly drifted to pondering about films focussed on food. Unfortunately, mainstream food films like Chocolat - a frankly quite overrated story about the potently amorous quality of chocolate and the cheesy, nausea inducing Simply Irresistible are all quite boring and predictable so I won’t be taking the easy way out and gush about either of those atrocities.
I am at no point suggesting that all films that have a strong ‘food’ theme are vacuous pieces of cinema – my favourite sex scene (yes, I do have a favourite, it’s not weird I promise) is the hilarious and totally silly cake extravaganza in The Baker starring Kate Ashfield and Damian Lewis. On the other end of the spectrum I also loved the heart melting Soul Food which highlights the simple importance of food in family life. Another favourite, albeit a slightly odd one is The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover which is sumptuous to watch as well as showcasing a dark, sadistic manipulation of food.
The concept of food can be very successfully used as a plot device to reveal more about the nature of the characters. The types of food characters eat or surround themselves with can offer film watchers a deeper insight into a person’s nature and desires. What we eat is such an important and intrinsic part of being human. We eat in order to stay alive and the types of food we consume shape us physically and metaphorically as a being, it can therefore be assumed that types of food we eat have a great potential to reveal certain elements of our personalities.
In some cases, the presentation of food in a film almost serves as an extension of a character. A perfect example of this is the portrayal of Marie Antoinette in the 2006 Sophia Coppola film. Lavishly delicious displays of sweets (all made to perfection by Ladurée) highlight the frivolity and extravagance of Dunst’s character and this, juxtaposed with constant images of beautiful costumes and other luxury goods bedazzle and overwhelm watchers with a parade of decadence. The climax of all this is a brilliantly beautiful montage with I Want Candy playing in the background. If anyone with a penchant for self-indulgence can watch it without drooling or feeling extremely jealous then I’m confiscating their tiara.
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| A totally gratuitous photo of a topless Christian Bale from American Psycho for your perusal. |
Continuing on the subject of self indulgence and materialism, the food in Mary Harron’s American Psycho- the film adaptation of the Brett Easton Ellis novel- is also pretty impressive. I’m not even going to try to dissect Patrick Bateman’s character because of the complexities involved but his strict and uncompromising values of immaculacy and perfection when it comes to appearances is perfectly reflected in the types of food he surrounds himself with: controlled, sterile, highly processed fitness formulas or prized and costly nouvelle cuisine.
On a more humorous note, the titles of Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me never fail to make me cackle like a toothless and slightly pervy great aunt. If, for some bizarre reason you haven’t watched it, the gastronomic innuendo laden scenes are quite a sight to behold. Breads, meats and other general foodstuffs are carefully placed in front of characters’ naked bodies meaning that watchers get to experience a visual buffet of juvenile but very funny puns. I won’t ruin it all for you but there are melons strategically held in front of ladies’ chests and salami covering...well I needn’t go further, you can supply the extra details using your imaginations.
The fact that food can make an appearance in such vastly different films highlights the universality of food as a concept. It can be manipulated into a subtle form of expression to show a character’s inner feelings or used as an amusing visual pun. On the subject of amusing visual puns, you’ll have to excuse me because I’m about to settle down with some luxury popcorn and giggle at food covered naughty bits.
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| There's more than just baking going on between the leads in 'The Baker'...ahem |
Published in London Student 11/10/10.
