The Menu film starring Ralph Fiennes and Anya Taylor-Joy gets the cult of fine dining so right with its insufferable foodies and egotistical chefs
- The first trailer for the dark comedy, starring Ralph Fiennes as a frosty celebrity chef and Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult as diners, dropped on June 1
- The movie – release date November 18 – looks like it nails the ridiculousness of luxury restaurants today, while echoing survival favourites like Squid Game
Having reviewed restaurants for more than 15 years, I’ve always told those new to the game to avoid describing anything as “to die for” – we love food, just honestly not that much.
Fittingly, this hyperbolic life-or-death trope is now the premise of The Menu, a new horror-comedy film starring Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult, the delicious trailer for which dropped on June 1.
Fiennes plays Slowik, the emotionless executive chef of high-end restaurant Hawthorne – a churchlike vision of floor-to-ceiling glass, sharp angles and haughty minimalism, located on a grey and barren island; it’s a mixture of fine-dining temples Noma in Copenhagen, the far-flung Koks in the Faroe Islands, and the otherworldly, esoteric Vespertine in Los Angeles.
“Over the next few hours, you will ingest fat, salt, protein and, at times, entire ecosystems,” Slowik drawls. “We’re eating the ocean,” a woman breathes, emotionally.
I’m immediately triggered by this exact type of snobby overhyping of the basics. I’m reminded of a restaurant in Hong Kong that once described itself as serving “ingredient-based cuisine”, as though it were the exception rather than the norm.
It’s clear something more sinister is at play, and much like survival thrillers The Hunger Games and Squid Game, the guests of Hawthorne quickly learn that Slowik is the gamemaster – not a subtle comment, perhaps, on how modern diners are frequently beholden to the ego of the chef.