Another foreign import founded on the belief that a good meal can solve anything. As it follows an uptight German chef (Martina Gedeck) who runs her kitchen with the rigid precision of a military canteen, the movie doesn’t quite have the joyous effervescence of Like Water for Chocolate or Babette’s Feast. The pleasure, then, comes in watching the heroine thaw at the hands of an impassioned Italian chef (Sergio Castellitto), thanks largely to Gedeck’s marvelously vulnerable performance.
