This was the first collaboration of the great writer-actor team of Agnes Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri; it was a huge success on the stage and paved the way for their second play-and-subsequent-film Un Air de famille after which they concentrated on writing directly for the screen (On Connait le chanson, Smoking/No Smoking, and Le Gout des autres and Comme une Image which Jaoui also, of course, directed. Cuisine is now available on DVD and very welcome it is. All the themes of the duo - the small group as microcosm, the flawed relationships, long-savoured resentments, etc - are in evidence from the first and if, like Francis Veber in another context, they keep making the same movies this is no problem because like Veber they keep ringing the changes and finding different ways to extract new wine from old bottles. Like Une air de famille the setting - in this case a kitchen - is one associated with food and only the relationships are different; the kitchen is in the home of a married couple, Zabou Breitman and Sam Karman, who have given a temporary roof to a friend, Jean-Pierre Bacri and have invited another friend - arguably we could call him The Man Who Didn't Come To Dinner as he remains off-camera - who, in the intervening decade since they saw him last has become a TV personality. Also on hand is Zabou's brother, Jean-Pierre Darroussin and HIS unseen girlfriend and finally Agnes Jaoui, the wife of a journalist. Between them these five explore the Human Condition in all its manifestations and contribute the kind of high quality acting we would expect given their respective track records. It's also interesting to note that three out of the five went on to direct films; apart from Jaoui herself Zabou wrote, directed and appeared in the brilliant Se Souvenirs des belles choses and Sam Karman weighed in with Un Petite semaine. This is one to relish.
Review of Kitchen with Apartment
