Eugénie (Juliette Binoche) works as an assistant cook for Dodin Bouffant (Benoît Magimel) at a chateau in the French countryside. She lives with him while also serving as his maid.

      The screenplay by writer/director Anh Hung Tran, based on the novel Marcel Rouff, has a wafer-thin plot with very little exposition and narrative momentum. Anyone looking for a whimsical love story along the lines of Juliette Binoche's classic Chocolat won't find that here. However, what The Taste of Things lacks in plot, it more than compensates for it with its warmth and tenderness. There's a lot that remains unspoken between Eugénie and Dodin. He loves her, but it's not very certain if she loves him romantically as much as he does right away. There are no villains except for a mysterious illness that Eugénie gets sickened with. She has her own assistant as a maid, Violette (Galatea Bellugi), a teenager, whom she and Dodin pass on their cooking skills to in the kitchen. Those skills happen to be more essential for her in the second act. Writer/director Tran Anh Hung keeps the humor very gentle, although it's worth mentioning there are some moments of comic relief that help the film to avoid becoming monotonous.

      Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel give charismatic and heartfelt performance. The true stars, though, are the food dishes which often look succulent. The Taste of Things shows Eugénie and Dodin preparing the dishes, including pot-au-feu, from start to finish with plenty of close-ups that will make your mouth water. It's one of the best foodie movies Babette's Feast and Big Night. Commendably, writer/director Tran Anh Hung eschews a musical score which reflects that he trusts the audience's emotions. Everything from the lighting to the costume design, set design and camera-work and the slow pacing help to enrich the film in style which, in turn, becomes part of its substance. At a running time of 2 hours and 25 minutes, The Taste of Things is an engrossing and mesmerizing delight that will nourish your heart, mind and soul.