The Menu wasn’t a blockbuster hit nor will it likely be an awards season darling but The Menu was one of those movies that just about everybody who saw it seemed to love. It’s a special film because it’s quite simply a good movie that’s not part of a major franchise, something that we just don’t seem to see much of anymore. But while the movie wasn’t based on a comic book or a novel, it was apparently based on a real restaurant.
That’s not to say there’s a real restaurant where the chefs kill themselves and guests get maimed. While there are probably a few restaurants where the chef would like to kill a few guests, we have yet to actually see it happen. However, screenwriter Will Tracy did recently tell Bon Appetit that the movie, which stars Ralph Fiennes as a chef who goes a bit mad, was based on an actual meal, that at least gave him an uneasy feeling.
The location was an island restaurant off the coast of Norway and Tracy apparently got an intense feeling of claustrophobia because the experience was so intense and focused, more so than he apparently preferred. He explained…
There’s something relentless about all of these tasting menus. You can’t leave. You’re being held hostage by a story which they’re telling for hours.
Certainly, we tend to think of meals as periods where we can relax and enjoy ourselves, so feeling like you’re being held hostage at a restaurant would be a very uncomfortable feeling. While you’re there to enjoy the food, everything around you is perhaps not letting you relax.
At the same time, most of the people going to a restaurant like this for a multi-course tasting menu probably know what to expect. The story of the food is part of the experience, and part of the, almost certainly, exorbitant price tag.
But if you’re inside what’s supposed to be a fancy restaurant having maybe not the best time, it’s not hard to see, especially for a screenwriter, how an experience like this might transform into the plot of The Menu. It’s not just a feeling of being trapped in the restaurant, but you’re actually trapped, and terrible things are happening.
The Menu sees Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult as a pair of guests at a special seating of a unique restaurant, as run by Ralph Fiennes. The chef is known for the unexpected, so when strange things begin to happen, people perhaps don’t quite react as they otherwise might. And by the time things are truly out of hand, it’s basically too late.
Honestly, eating lots of delicious food over the course of several hours, while learning the story behind all that food, sounds pretty amazing to me, but I can see that not everybody would be up for an experience like that. As long as you don’t discover Ralph Fiennes is your chef, even the worst meal will probably turn out fine.