Starring: Michael Youn, Jean Reno, Julien Boisselier, Raphaelle Agogue
Director: Daniel Cohen
Category: IIA (French)
For Hong Kong audiences, the top draw for The Chef is probably Jean Reno, the veteran French actor who remains best known here for his hitman role in the 1994 film Leon: The Professional.
What drives Daniel Cohen's film, however, is Michael Youn (below, right, with Reno), an all-singing, all-clowning entertainer who is more or less a household name in France. Youn is Jacky, a self-taught kitchen whiz whose drive to realise his ambitions brings him into the orbit of Alexandre (Reno), the chef of a three-star restaurant.
What begins as a confrontational relationship between the pair slowly morphs into a genuine friendship. The bond consolidates when the two swap places. The restaurant's owner must cede control to his son - a slimy individual who harbours a preference for fads (in this case molecular gastronomy). Alexandre is threatened with the sack for failing to move 'with the times', and as the old-timer panics, in comes Jacky to save the day.
As the latest entry in the culinary-comedy genre, The Chef offers middle-of-the-road fare which rarely strays into problematic territory. Just like Mostly Martha - which unleashed a battle of the sexes set in the kitchen but never seriously addressed gender issues - The Chef pokes fun at the urge to cash in on modernity, but fudges its final analysis about whether traditions are meant to be left alone.
For all his youthfulness, Jacky is actually more puritanical than Alexandre, his obsession with haute cuisine leading to him neglecting the well-being of his pregnant girlfriend (Raphaelle Agogue) and also the needs of his customers. His attempts to impose his concoctions on labourers in a roadside diner, mirrors the small cubes being served up as culinary gems by the chef assigned to usurp Alexandre.