Menus-Plaisirs, les Troisgros

Frederick Wiseman's 2023 documentary is about the Troisgros restaurant in France, which has held three Michelin stars for fifty-five years. The family business has passed to its fourth generation; Cesar runs the main restaurant and his brother Leo heads another. Wiseman applies his usual method: no narrator, no interviews, no music. The camera waits in the kitchen, at the suppliers and in the dining room. A conversation with a cheesemaker, an argument about a sauce and the briefing before service are all given the same attention. The film runs over four hours, and across that time what appears is labour rather than food. The generational difference between father and son, discussions of sustainability and how an institution hands itself on are the real subject. Food here is not a result but the visible part of a long process. Who it's for: those who love the observational documentary tradition and kitchen culture. Who it's not for: viewers with no tolerance for length; the film shortens no scene and is deliberately demanding.