Friday, January 12, 2007

Mostly Martha



We watched Mostly Martha over Christmas break because a colleague of Papa Rooster's lent it to us. It's her favorite movie--and now it's one of ours too!

Though it came out in 2001, I never heard of it. (Did you?) It's in German and Italian, with English subtitles, so I doubt it was out in the regular theaters. But this is well worth renting.

Here's the plot outline from IMDb:

When a headstrong chef takes charge of her equally stubborn 8-year-old niece, the tensions between them mount... until an Italian sous-chef arrives to lighten the mood.

If you like cooking, if you like to laugh at therapist/client relationships, if you enjoy romantic "art" films with a family-flavored twist--you've got to see this one! And your older (i.e. able to read) children can enjoy this one with you. The child actor is wonderful--all the acting is unusually good--and it's completely clean. (There is an intense scene of frustrated, angry yelling between Martha and her niece--which is not resolved for awhile; nothing most children old enough to read couldn't handle, though.)

Martha is so neurotic, and Mario is so charmingly warm and winning--a healthy, happy male figure inviting her to life and joy--that the story has the makings of a tragedy, if she were to make the wrong choice. But you know she won't--and it's for her niece as well as herself that she chooses well. If you can handle subtitles, it's a delightful, insightful story!

7 comments:

Islandsparrow said...

Have you ever watched Babette's Feast? Another great movie - about cooking - with subtitles. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll look for this one.

(islandsparrow - blogger is so formal calling me Kathryn)

Randi said...

We watched this last night and loved it too!

At A Hen's Pace said...

Oh, good! So glad you liked it!

At A Hen's Pace said...

Islandsparrow--

Babette's Feast is one of my favorites, though I've only seen it once! Time to watch it again, I think. Thanks for reminding me of it!

Unknown said...

I will have to try this on my own one afternoon. Dh will NOT do subtitles, but it does sound great. Thanks.

Anne said...

Mostly Martha was our first Netflix venture. However, we made the mistake of watching about a week after I had given birth to baby number three and the whole 'mother dying leaving child behind' bit sort of made it impossible for me to watch the food with any enjoyment. However, I really did enjoy the last bit with the therapist cooking. The other really good food one is Eat Drink Man Woman. Accidentally stole it from a video store--more subtitles but the food is genuinely exciting.

Debra said...

Thanks for recommending this... It sounds like something my husband and I would enjoy very much! P.S. Love your blog! Blessings, Debra