by Frank Wilkins
From the idea that food is love, comes another adoring tale of how human emotion can be so deeply intertwined with the culinary delights of the kitchen. Mostly Martha is a sorrowful but funny little German import that rests on the same metaphorical concept that was the inspiration for Like Water for Chocolate and Tortilla Soup. While great cooks and food connoisseurs will definitely cherish Mostly Martha for championing the cause of the kitchen, its lack of originality and spontaneity keep it from achieving anything great or memorable.
Martha Klein (Martina Gedeck) is a fastidious chef at a trendy German restaurant. She is so caught up in the pursuit of perfection that she's unable to recognize the flaws in her personality that begin to consume her life. She refuses to eat, she serves perfectly prepared meals to her psychiatrist, and she's unable to maintain any personal relationships.
Tragedy further complicates her life when Martha's sister is killed in an automobile accident, leaving Martha as the caretaker of her sister's 8 year-old daughter, Lina (Maxime Foerste). Martha finds herself completely unprepared for parenthood and Lina's wall of silence and refusal to eat push Martha further towards becoming a complete neurotic mess.
With no child care options immediately available and without knowing the whereabouts of her niece's natural father, Martha is forced to bring Lina to work with her where she performs menial tasks and generally causes further distractions for Martha. As if Martha's problems weren't already approaching the disaster level, enter Mario (Sergio Castellitto), the Italian sous-chef hired by Martha's boss to take over some of the burdens of the kitchen. Naturally, being the control-freak that she is, Martha almost immediately expresses her dislike of Sergio and butts heads with him at nearly every turn.
Matters turn more favorable however as Sergio begins to charm his way through Lina's steely facade, engaging her in conversation and eventually getting her to eat. This naturally has a favorable effect on Martha who can't help but be entranced by his compassion towards her niece.
The charm in Mostly Martha comes from watching Martha's ironclad facade slowly peel away. Mario's fun loving animation contrasts nicely with Martha's controlling nature as we are finally able to see that she is indeed a human being with feelings and emotions. We also begin to notice that Martha is an attractive woman, a fact that had gone virtually unnoticed. Buried beneath her deeply teutonic demeanor.
Part of Mostly Martha's downside comes from the fact that it is way too predictable and doesn't really do anything to set itself apart from other food-is-love movies like Chocolat, et al. Although the performances are loaded with honesty and conviction, the chemistry generated by the characters is not enough to overcome the film's slow pace that truly requires patience.
Frank Wilkins
Read and post comments about Mostly Martha here
