The Taste of others = It takes all kinds = Le Gout des autres

This comedy, about the foibles of a disparate group of people whose lives intersect and are altered in unforseen ways, has a whimsical tone that is underpinned by an impressively deft script. Jean-Jacques Castella is a depressed industrialist married to an interior designer who dominates their personal spaces with her ‘taste’. Their unstable marriage cataclysmically implodes when Jean-Jacques attends a bourgeois play (against his will) subsequently falling in love with an aging actress. Clara for her part takes an immediate dislike to Jean-Jacques - considering him a materialistic, middle-class, tasteless bore. Added to this mix is Jean-Jacques’ bodyguard, who falls in with a free-spirited barmaid; his driver, coping with the trials of a long distance love affair; and Clara’s cultured friends who delight in mocking the gauche and unknowing Jean-Jacques. Thus whilst interrogating notions of class and taste, this comedy of manners is also a humanistic and wry portrayal of modern relationships, mores and ways. In her debut feature Agnes Jaoui ably captures the idiosyncrasies and muddled desires of her protagonists, without stooping to bland characterisations or pat conclusions. A contender for Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards, “The Taste of others” won four Cesars (including Best Film) and was nominated for a further five. Cast includes Jean-Pierre Bacri, Anne Alvaro, Agnes Jaoui, Gerard Lanvin, Alain Chabat, Brigitte Catillon, Christiane Millet and Vladimir Yordanoff.