Le goût des autres

Plot synopsis:
Castella (Bacri) owns a steel factory. He is told that in order to conduct a business with a group of Iranians, he must learn English, so he hires Clara (Alvaro) to teach him. His wife, Angelique (Millet), is an interior decorator who loves her dog and is in the process of working on her sister-in-law's apartment. The couple go to the theatre, where their niece is performing in a production of Bérénice, accompanied by the driver, Bruno (Chabat), and Castella's temporary bodyguard, Franck (Lanvin). While there, he sees Clara, who is an actress. Meanwhile, we learn from Franck and Bruno's conversation that the former was a police officer. After working tirelessly with his partner towards bringing down a seemingly untouchable criminal, their investigation was abruptly ended. Franck had finally suffered enough corruption and quit the force, while the partner he respected never spoke a word about it.
Franck sends Bruno to the bar to buy cigarettes. The barmaid, Manie (Jaoui), remembers having had sex with Bruno, but Bruno regrets that he does not remember her.
Bérénice over, Clara goes to the bar with her friends, including Antoine and Valerie, and their conversation reveals that she is afraid of never working again; after all, she is forty years old. Bruno, whose fiance is doing an internship in the United States, spends the night with Manie, who, it turns out, sells drugs on the side and is frequently visited by clients. Franck meets Manie through Bruno and they start a relationship.
Previously uninterested in theater and reluctant about seeing a play rather than having dinner in a restaurant, Castella attends another of Clara's performance and develops a fascination with her bohemian lifestyle. He joins her and her friends for lunch and attends an art show where he buys a piece. However, his cultural ignorance and general roughness makes him a laughingstock. At the bar with Clara's friends, they joke with him that Henrik Ibsen is a great comic playwright, as well as other dramatists like Tennessee Williams. Clara confides to her friend Manie that Castella is thick.
Castella's English is poor at first, but he soon makes progress. He and Clara move the classes from his office to an English tea room, and to mark his progress, he writes an awkward poem dedicated to Clara; however, he is dismayed when she says that she does not share the feelings expressed in his poem. One day she waits at the tea room and he doesn't show up. Throughout the film, Bruno practices his flute, which he plays in a band. Later, he gently complains to Manie that he hasn't received news from his girlfriend who has gone to the US for an internship. Finally, the girlfriend tells him that she has, like him, slept with someone else, and also wants to stay in the States. Manie has now developed an intense affair with Franck, to the point that they speak of marriage—jokingly, they say. However, Franck reveals himself to be more and more angry and bothered regarding Manie's drug dealing, which proves to finally end their relationship.
Castella and Angelique are drifting apart, which is made clear when she moves the painting he bought from Clara's friend, she doesn't like it and that it doesn't go with rest of the house. He retorts that he can't stand living in a candy store, referring to Angelique's interior decorating. Clara starts to feel that her friends are taking advantage of Castella and tells him. He tells her that he bought the painting and is working with her friend to redesign the front of his factory not for her but because he truly likes those things. Franck's contract is finished, and Bruno reveals that the corrupt politician he had tried to send to prison was finally caught by his former partner. Bruno says that he thinks the partner was right to stay on the force after all. This leads Franck to drive to Manie's apartment for a reconciliation. From her window, she sees him reach the door to the lobby, but he hesitates and finally drives away. Clara lands the lead part in Hedda Gabler and invites Castella to the opening. Agitated after seeing an empty chair all night, Clara is overjoyed to see him in the audience as she takes her final bow.

Tags: violence, entertaining, storytelling, romantic

Review:
With some gentle nudges, the characters in this lovely movie take deep breaths, look again at people and situations, and see what had been missed before.
And it's a treat to know that the actress playing the younger woman, Manie, is both the film's director and screenwriter.
If you want to know what I mean about pacing, just watch the main character, Clara, as she comes out of cafe after having been stood up for an English lesson.
The film indulges neither the shallow bourgeoisie nor the supercilious bohemians, but all the characters are real and believable.If the plot offers no easy solutions to the complex needs and insecurities of its characters, it does at least show each of them, in his or her own way, learning something significant about themselves and about other people.
The two leading characters in particular come to see each other in a more accepting light, and a direction for the future is opened up.The confidence, intelligence and humour with which director Agnes Jaoui presents these tangled lives are a pleasure to experience, and she offers a refreshing and very European alternative to the more clichéd characterisation favoured by Hollywood..
A slice of potentially real French life, elegantly portrayed with the believable people ('characters' is the wrong word) being eminently watchable.
A word of praise to the two main architects: co-author (Agnes Jaoui) who directs herself as the barmaid (Manie) and her coauthor (Jean-Pierre Bacri) who writes himself the somewhat awful role of Castella.
But one day Castella falls in love with Clara, his new business english teacher.
She wrote the script together with her husband Jean Pierre Bacri (Castella) and also plays the role of Manie the waitress, Francks girlfriend.
Magnificent piece of actors' work, the movie unites a set of characters elaborately put together, like a human puzzle, and the result is nothing short of spectacular.
This debut for Jaoui (playing the role of Manie) as a director is a great comedy.
There seems to be one exception to the rule: surprisingly, it is the character that, for all the movie long, has been treated like the most foolish and disgusting (Castella).
At least, he tried to change its life and, whilst trying to get closer to her (pretending to love art and theater), he discovers something deeper and true about himself.
Both writers - Jean-Pierre Bacri (Castella) and Agnes Jaoui (Manie), who also directed, have not flinched from writing scenes in which they come off the worse for wear.
Of course, with the track record of Jaoui and Bacri - before this they wrote and starred in On Connait le Chanson and Un air de famille - you expect only the finest and that is what they deliver here, even Bacri's character name, Castella, has overtones of Bob Castella, the great pianist-composer who was, for decades, the accompanist for Yves Montand.
This is a character film, a portrait etched in dialogue between the self-written lead and the wandering sympathies of simple, well-executed cinematography.
These interludes mark sea changes in viewer sympathy, serving to give some degree of cultural empathy to the characters.Above all, though, the music and rhythm of cinematography, script and music span great clashes in taste.
I thought this was a very simple and deep film at the same time, because through a very simple story it deals with the complicated human nature: our insecurities, our lack of acceptance of ourselves, trying to adjust to the way other people want us to be.Castella is an uncultured  but rich business man attracted to his bohemian english teacher,Clara.
I should have reserved the definition for her debut, The Taste of Others (2000) which was nominated for the Oscar as The Best Foreign Film and for nine Cesars.
The film received four Cesars, including two for Jaoui, for Best film and Best Writing that she shared with her off-screen husband and co-star/co-writer, Jean-Pierre Bacri.
It belongs to one of my favorite genres of different kind of comedy, subtle, depending not on laughing out loud situations and the funny clichés but on the genuineness of the characters and their interactions.
It is a character driven film, and every character is alive, real, often weak and even boring but as their stories interweave, we began to see how much the movie has to say about many important things and how well it did so.
What really attracts me to Agnes Jaoui's film is non-judgment of the main characters but the interest to and understanding them.
This is the French film in the best meaning of the word - not glamorous, without expensive set decorations or breathtakingly beautiful lead heroes whose passion would burn the screen, no, it is quiet, ironic, elegantly constructed, it moves on its own relaxed pace, but it never drags, and its every word, smile, look, and sound combine in a wonderful watching experience.
The cool thing about this movie is that in the beginning you have a cast of stereotype individuals like the macho bodyguard, the naive/dumb rich business guy and the principal/arty people of the theater/art scene in paris.
In the end, it turns out that nothing is as it seems; the bodyguard, who you'll view as the coolest individual loses the most in this movie, which is very perplexing; the business man (who doesn't understand art) turns out to be the most "true to his feelings" character!
The main character, Castella, is so wonderfully out of touch with "culture", but his slow transformation through the film left me rooting for him and anything that he wanted to experience, sometimes aloud.
Highly recommended for those who love character-driven movies..
Floating somewhere between romantic comedy and light drama, "Taste" is a dialogue-intensive look at the relationships of several people, all youngish middle-aged adults who are brought together for a short period of time by circumstance, and their moments of consonance and dissonance (their tastes).
Castella is the pivot around which the various characters of this movie turn.
To make good films, good literature, good fiction, you have to, just like Agnes Jaoui does, observe, select, edit, put on paper and finally on screen small scenes of everyday life.And the result and the final meaning of this is that we are all humans, weak, filled with doubts, longings, ego.
I've seen this one and the Marie Poulain in the same week and clearly i prefer Le gout des autres because it's simple, very pure but it makes a point and make us think about the 2 clashing worlds that meets in this film.It's not everyday that someone makes a a film that is so simple but tells a great story.
Agnes Jaoui doesn't use anything spectacular but knows how to film the  attitude, the gesture, the word which will make you feel like laughing and crying at the same time.You may feel a little bit sad after watching the film but you also feel good.
Jaoui succeeded in making us love all the characters' mistakes, their stupidity and also in making us see the good sides of all of them .Among other things this film encourage us to look at people differently, to like them whatever they do.
Simply the best french movie I've ever seen.
"Le goût des autres", or "The Taste of Others" is a French movie and therefor already not so accessible to many of you.
Perhaps I'm a bit too young for this movie (I'm in my late twenties) and therefor maybe not really able to fully understand the world in which these people live (midlife crisis, so many uncertainties at an age that you can't deal with them anymore...).
I don't know what it was, it just didn't completely work for me.It's not that I don't like non-American movies, because I certainly do.
This is a wonderful film and I found the way that it deals with the issue of taste very appealing.Castella is portrayed as a 'philistine', without taste as it were.
Although in Australia we love to laugh at Kath & Kim, and 'The Castle', which represents bad taste to us.The thing is, some people seem to act like taste is a matter of 'breeding' and education.
For example you may currently line your shelves with Toby mugs, and have personalised numberplate's, but with a little (or a lot depending on how little 'breeding' you have) education you are not beyond an appreciation of the maxim "less is more".However this film shows that while Castella maybe seen as uncouth, in the way that he would prefer Pro Hart to Sidney Nolan, Robert G.
The plot--Philistine shows he's not so benighted after all--is nothing new, even in French cinema, but it's all in the way it's done: in this film, perceptively and subtly.
This is the kind of film the French do so well - a dialogue- and character-driven ensemble piece, in a largely middle class (and noticeably wholly white) setting, with very little action (in the Hollywood sense).
The central plot concerns the relationship between wealthy businessman Castella (Jean-Pierre Bacri, the other joint-writer) and actress/English teacher Clara (Anne Alvaro); through her, he is drawn into an artistic circle, where initially he is a fish out of water, but gradually assets himself.
Other story lines involve Castella's wife, sister, chauffeur, bodyguard, and a waitress/hash dealer (played by Jaoui).
There is another theme to the film that might be missed - the power of the arts to enrich people's lives.
It is noticeable that Castella is not struck by Clara when he first meets her; it is when he sees her on stage that he is moved by both her and the role she is playing.
Most of the characters, even Clara, finish up more or less where they started in the film; but Castella has travelled a real distance..
Another great film by Agnes Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri.
I love the story between the English teacher/actress and the rich businessman Mr. Castella who tries desperately to fit in to her world.
I love French films or cinema because they focus a lot more on character developments, relationships, and beauty as well.
If only French film directors can teach American film directors that you don't need violence, sex, or special effects to make a good movie.
When Hollywood re-makes "The Taste of Others (Le Gout des Autres)" it will just manage to change everything in this delightful Woody Allen meets Eric Rohmer ensemble piece that it will be awful.Here you have chaos theory at work as tiny coincidences of gradually revealed links between people whose lives wouldn't usually intersect (from an ex-cop to artists to a business executive) set off dramatic changes (or consideration of changes) in their lives.
Such that something one contact says to another is then taken out of context to cause communication problems when it's passed on to another.A lot of the triumph has to do with director/co-writer Agnes Jaoui's penchant for long shots and her trust in the actors (but then she and her husband--who also co-wrote the script--are also co-stars, though not an on-screen couple).
I can't recall exactly when I realized how much I was liking it, but it may have been during one of Castella's (the bald guy) English lessons with the actress/teacher Clara.
On second thought, I know when it was: when Castella cursed upon discovering the play he'd been dragged to was in verse!The rest of the cast was great too, and I know Agnès Jaoui did everything from writing and directing to co-starring, but would it be too much to ask her also to give us an unreserved smile?
So this is the first film directed by the undoubtedly talented Jaoui, and I was intrigued to see what kind of female character she'd make for herself.
People act as in real life and despite this the film is not boring at all.There are subtle details indicating all kind of emotions:  fear, depression, anxiety, joy, resignation.
In The taste of others the end is more emotive though not completely convincing.The script is good, but the story in itself is not too much relevant.
If this would not have been the case I think this film should be among the best films in history.I loved the work of Agnès Jaoui both as actress and as director.
I hope to see many excellent films of her in the future.I recommend this film for all those who like good acting and direction even when the story is not of prime level..
Most people I know won't go near a foreign language film if you paid them ; they simply can't be bothered to read the sub-titles I've heard them say.
All the characters in this movie struggle with broken hearts, and they all still do long passionately to find true love again.
This is one terrific feel good movie, with some melancholic french notes mixed into it, because there is no comedy without some true to life drama.
Think of Woody Allen falling in love, for those unfamiliar with french comedies.
That doesnt do justice to this french masterpiece, but I dont know how else I can convince people to give this movie a chance.
I speak French and lived in Rouen (where the movie was filmed) for a year.
What a nice work, how good film makers and actors Agnès Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri are!
I guess we'll know pretty soon if Agnes Jaoui isreally one of the great director of the year 2000, but shealready has made h.
I thought this film was very boring.The acting was ok, but I found no interest whatsoever in the bald old man character.
Le Gout des Autres is certainly an interesting film with some beautiful touches - the clumsy love letter, the modernist painting in the chintz living room, the two scenes of Castella with his minders in night clubs where we see nothing of what's on offer but, from the lighting and music and their bored expressions, we know exactly what kind of places they are.The acting throughout is first-rate and there's a beautiful soundtrack BUT (and it's a very big 'but')the script is hopelessly overblown.
-  there are long stretches of this movie that make Warhol's Sleep look like It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.The makers should look at Milos Foreman's early films - The Fireman's Ball or Taking Off - to see how this kind of thing should be done..
The movie still worked for me as a romance but only once I let go of my expectations and forced myself to watch through the first 20 or so minutes (which were pretty slow), I found the movie interesting and different--something that occurs too seldom with films.
But what do I know?Incidentally, Jean-Pierre Bacri not only played Mr. Castella but he also wrote the screenplay.
This odd-couple ensemble comedy was reportedly inspired by "Hannah and Her Sisters," but in this case co-writers Jean-Pierre Bacri and Agnès Jaoui are working on a bigger canvas with a broader brush.
Castella, the businessman (Bacri), is blown away by an actress's performance in a Racine tragedy ("Crap, it's poetry!," he grumbles as the play begins), but she can't get too interested, at least in principle, in a guy who tells peepee-caca jokes and confuses "Rigoletto" with the Juanita Banana jingle (she doesn't even know about the Danielle Steele thing).
I'm not sure there are too many life lessons for us here, but "The Taste of Others" is lively and involving from start to finish; the dialogue is sharp and slangy, and if you learned French in high school, you may pick up some useful new words.
Perhaps I should have seen 'The Taste of Others' first as it is the counter-point to Jaoui's follow-up as it is about a slow unwitting change.After watching 'Taste/Others', I read reviews including a perceptive one by Roger Ebert, though I felt like Peter Bradshaw, that this film didn't leave as strong impression as I thought it would.
It was interesting to read about Agnes Jaoui & Jean-Pierre Bacri's style, ensemble pieces with shifting story lines which make their films difficult to categorise after twenty minutes in.
And 'The Taste of Others' is a film about individuals who cannot be easily categorised.It is initially about Castella, an unsophisticated businessman who is drawn to Clara, an actress & part-time English teacher.
And in the end, Franck doesn't manage to protect Castella on the one occasion he is needed.The film is about unlikely romances and friendships (Castella & the gay arty bohemians Antoine & Benoit, his wife Angelique & her long suffering sister-in-law who offers her comfort, even background characters like Valerie, Clara's friend, with a bar-owner).
Agnes Jaoui directs this film which makes a strong case for tolerance-but not simply for liberals and artists and those for whom the claim for tolerance is often made, but also for those who are possibly more old-fashioned or perhaps not as progressive but who just don't realize all the artistic and cultural life in the world.This is a very clever film, well-crafted and even-handed to all.
Separately, as the film begins, Castella (director and character Manie (Agnes Jaoui)'s real life husband, Jean-Pierre Bacri) is a successful businessman who is in negotiations for a possibly huge payday with some Iranian businessmen.
This is a funny sub-plot throughout the film.Not surprisingly, Castella is brusque and abrasive, so when he meets Clara who also serves as a private English tutor, he is surprised to discover that, while she is not like most people he knows, he is interested in her and what makes her "tick".
Also crucial to the film, and excellent in their performances, are the director herself, Agnes Jaoui as Manie, a bartender who sells a bit of weed on the side to make ends meet.
Without giving too much away, the ending of the film seems fair, based on what we know about the characters.