Vatel

Chantilly, 1671. The heavily indebted Prince de Condé invites Louis XIV to three days of festivities, hoping to be given a command before the war with Holland. The man carrying all of it is François Vatel, master of festivities and steward: food, fireworks, décor and timing are all his. The film is not interested in the table. It is interested in the limits of service. Vatel is gifted and low born; the court praises his work, uses him as an object, and assumes he can be handed from one master to another to settle a debt. The form is showy because display is the subject. It was shot in real châteaux, at Chantilly and also at Rambouillet, Fontainebleau and Vaux-le-Vicomte. The score is by Ennio Morricone. The screenplay is by Jeanne Labrune, with the English text written by Tom Stoppard. The heavy French court on screen passed through the hands of one of the sharpest dialogue writers in English theatre. Roland Joffé directed. The film opened the Cannes Film Festival in 2000 and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction. Gérard Depardieu plays Vatel, with Uma Thurman and Tim Roth on the side of the court. Who it is for: viewers who like period films, court intrigue and kitchen sequences. Who it is not for: anyone wanting dramatic tension. The film gives a great deal to the look and very little to what its characters are thinking.