The Taste Of Others

1999 Comedy

Agnes Jaoui co-writes and directs this romantic comedy of manners set in France's rustic Provence. Unpolished and ultra-pragmatic industrialist Jean-Jacques Castella (co-scripter Jean-Pierre Bacri) reluctantly attends Racine's tragedy "Berenice" in order to see his niece play a bit part. He is taken with the play's strangely familiar-looking leading lady Clara Devaux (Anne Alvaro). During the course of the show, Castella soon remembers that he once hired and then promptly fired the actress as an English language tutor. He immediately goes out and signs up for language lessons. Thinking that he is nothing but an ill-tempered philistine with bad taste, Clara rejects him until Castella charms her off her feet.

Director: Agnès Jaoui

Starring: Anne Alvaro, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Agnès Jaoui, Gérard Lanvin, Christiane Millet

 30 Reviews  13 Awards

Reviews

  • A civilized delight.

    Jay Carr - The Boston Globe

    20 January 2013

  • Jaoui handles her crowd of vivid characters so naturally, and shoots her scenes so unobtrusively, that the diagrammatic cleverness of the plot never overwhelms the intelligence of the observations.

    Lisa Schwarzbaum - Entertainment Weekly

    20 January 2013

  • All of this romantic back and forth unfolds gradually and in charming ensemble style. As the characters think about seducing each other, as they inevitably complicate their lives without being able to help themselves, the film is simultaneously seducing us.

    Kenneth Turan - Los Angeles Times

    20 January 2013

  • There are some things the French do better than we do, and this small movie is one.

    - The Washington Post

    20 January 2013

  • A witty, sociologically astute reflection on the attraction between opposites.

    Stephen Holden - The New York Times

    20 January 2013

Awards

  • Best Foreign Language Film

    Academy Awards (2001)

     

  • Best Foreign Film (Mejor Película Extranjera)

    Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards (2002)

     

  • Best Foreign Independent Film - Foreign Language

    British Independent Film Awards (2001)

     

  • Jean-Pierre Bacri

    Cabourg Romantic Film Festival (2000)

  • Best Cast

    Chlotrudis Awards (2002)

     

Lists

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