A Matter of Taste

Nicolas is a young waiter. A rich businessman, Frédéric Delamont, notices him at the restaurant and offers him a strange job: he is to be his personal taster. Delamont is afraid of being poisoned and everything he eats has to be tasted first by Nicolas. The money is good. In time the job does not stay confined to food; Delamont starts interfering in how the young man dresses, what he drinks, who he sees. Bernard Rapp's film is built like an inquiry; the events open backwards, later, through testimony. Bernard Giraudeau plays Delamont cold and measured, while Jean-Pierre Lorit shows how Nicolas gives himself over step by step. The subject is dependency, but not on drugs or money; it is one person taking over another's taste, his choices and finally his identity. Ninety minutes, and the tension is never built loudly.