Interview: "The Taste of Things" Director Tran Ahn Hung

By Ben Miller

Image courtesy of IFC FilmsI was fortunate enough to sit down with Award-wining Vietnamese director Tran Ahn Hung to talk about his wonderful new film The Taste of Things. We spoke about his film's themes, making a film without conflict, and shooting cooking scenes like action sequences.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.  THIS INTERVIEW CONTAINS SOME FILM SPOILERS

BEN MILLER: I loved your film.  Thank you so much for having it.  I was curious, more than anything else, how the story came about as far as how it relates to the food. Did you come up with the idea of the film, and then have to backfill all the recipes, and the food, and the preparation, or was it vice versa?

TRAN ANH HUNG: I think the idea of the food came first.  I always wanted to make a movie about food.  So the idea is to find the right project.  So, I read a lot of books.  I wanted to make a movie about food, but it didn't happen.  So when I found this book, I was really happy because there were some pages, that was really nice, about how people talk about food.  That was the starting point.  And then, since I didn't like the story in the book, it was the opportunity for me to think about the idea of the people at that age, around 50.  And how it would be harmonious relationship between a man and woman at that age.  Then, I came with the love story between Eugènie and Dodin.

BEN MILLER: It's really interesting how you just said that.  You don't really see that kind of like...these characters are not young, but it's never highlighted that they are getting up there in age.  They've been together all this time, but there's no real labels on it.  It's not a story of "finally after all these years they can find love."  They've always been there.  How do you describe that?   

TRAN ANH HUNG: This is the very important point that you made.  Because it's in fact the nature of their relationship which I tried to show in the movie.  And this nature is given by Eugènie because she didn't want to marry Dodin.  This distance that she put between them made the beauty of their relationship.  At the end of the movie, the very clear definition of their relationship, and this definition is understood and accepted by Dodin, about what woman Eugènie would like to be.  It's a very strong statement.  The whole movie is about this idea of her being a free woman and about Dodin, who accepted it.

Image courtesy of IFC Films
BEN MILLER: The big takeaway from the film...you see films or reality shows with cooking and a chef in a high-pressure situation, and it's always very abrasive and overbearing.  IN this film, it's like a ballet.  It's so graceful, and working together, and understanding each other's movements.  And even whenever the child comes in as the apprentice, we are going introduce her in a way to show her how much this is loved.  Any conflict in the film has nothing to do with the food.  Was that an intentional idea where you said, "everything is perfect in this situation?"  

TRAN ANH HUNG: I would not say that it's perfect.  It's more about this idea of giving up with conflicts.  Because conflicts is something that is usually in film.  Because somehow it's easier, it's a dynamic thing for a movie.  When you don't have conflict, it becomes something that's a great challenge for me to achieve.  How to make a movie without conflict and expressing harmony.  That was something difficult for me to do, it's not that it's perfect, it's how to create a possible world that has harmony between people.  Dealing with different feelings like friendship, love, and transmission.  This little girl, Pauline, it's a beautiful character.  She carries the theme of transmission, because Eugènie wanted to train her and promised to train her.  She appears at the beginning of the movie, disappears, and reappears at the end.  When she reappears, Eugènie died, and she has to save Dodin.  He didn't want to make up with life.  Because of that promise, Dodin needs to find a cook to train her  And somehow before dying, Eugènie managed to give Dodin a daughter.  This is very beautiful.

BEN MILLER: It's not the kind of film you see these days, because like you said, there's always these films with conflict.  Most of the conflict is internal.  When watching the film, I saw the Russian aristocrat come in, and I assumed he would be the villain.  But that didn't happen.  And all of Dodin's friends are very supportive.  It must be difficult to write that.  Was the intention from the beginning or did it just evolve into that?

TRAN ANH HUNG: Yes, it was the intention from the beginning.  When I choose a project, it needs to have a real challenge for me.  The challenge here is to film the cooking scenes that is really different from what we see in different movies.  And also to find the balance between the love story and the cooking scenes.  And how to create this feeling of harmony and pleasure for the audience.

Image courtesy of IFC FilmsBEN MILLER: I would assume it was not something where on the day, you decide to block the cooking scenes like this.  I would imagine there was quite a bit of...it was almost like an action sequence when it comes to blocking the cooking scenes.  Like I said, it's a ballet.

TRAN ANH HUNG: Yes, exactly.  Normally, I don't prepare a scene before the day of shooting.  I would come to the set and then look at the space and then decide how to shoot the scene.  For the pleasure of discovering it and not preparing it before and then trying to get it on the set.  But for the cooking scene at the beginning of the movie, I had to prepare with my assistant because it's so complex.  The most complex thing in this scene was, when in the same movement, you show the state of a dish, and you move to another dish, it needs to be in the right state of this dish being prepared.  So all of this was quite complex to manage.  That's why I had to prepare beforehand.

BEN MILLER: Before we go, I have a podcast where I invite critics to talk about films they love.  I talked to a Vietnamese critic and we talked about Song Lang.  He opened my eyes up to more Vietnamese cinema.  The world of Vietnamese cinema is not one lacking in great films, yours included.

TRAN ANH HUNG: Don't miss another Vietnamese film Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell.  It's a beautiful film.

BEN MILLER: Thank you so much for the recommendation, and congratulations on all your success!

Comments

[McGill]

I just saw this movie, so the interview gives me some new perspectives on it.

While watching the movie, I liked the structure of it. Eugénie and Dodin cooking together and so happy. Then him cooking for her, and so anxious that everything should be just right and beautiful and worthy of her. And then the kitchen with no activity, feeling so empty, such an empty space.

The sudden exterior shots were so startling, beautiful and painterly, they were like an exquisite dessert. You know a movie has got you in its clutches when you start thinking in its metaphors.

I really like how the interview approaches the idea of conflict being unnecessary to a story of depth. That hadn’t occurred to me watching the film. Now I want to see the director’s other films.