The Tasting (La Degustation) at the Rex Berkhamsted

 

The Tasting is a wonderful French film set in the town of Troyes. All you need to know about wine is here as shop owner Jacques (played by Bernard Campan) is the expert. And who should arrive at his shop but Hortense, beautifully played by Isabelle Carre. So this is a romcom about middle age, although Hortense looks decades younger than her fifty plus years. I wondered what a twenty something was doing with this older man. She's a midwife, struggling with her childless self as time is getting short. Stood up at the altar and now looking after her mother. Jacques is an alcoholic and his wonderful doctor  played by Olivier Claveries tells him he's on borrowed time. So off to group therapy.

But what makes the film stand out is that it is so funny. The witticisms come thick and fast and we all laughed a lot despite the subtitles. Apparently this was a stage play before being adapted as a film, and all those who appeared on the stage are actually here. Director Ivan Calberac has done a fine job. His photography of the medieval city of Troyes is superb and there is not enough. So a story about people with their own histories who find a kind of unbalanced relationship. As in all these films, things go awry and the laughter fades. There are two side stories that did not work as well. The introduction of the young workshy Steve, and the bunch of homeless guys who are hosted by Hortense in her spare time. 

But the script is a little marvel, and yes, we get a tasting session or two. Apparently Isabelle Carre has.  appeared in more than seventy films since 1989 and lots on the stage. All in France. We have missed a wonderful talent. But I just loved this movie. Thank you The Rex.

Oh, and one last thing. The music is all excellent, but standing out for me was Petite Fleur, an instrumental written and performed on soprano saxophone by Sidney Bechet in 1952. But I always preferred the version played by Monty Sunshine on clarinet. The single became a huge international hit in 1959. I thought it was on my old 1956  LP The Best of Barber and Bilk but that was Monty's Hushabye featuring bandleader Chris Barber on bass, Lonnie Donegan on banjo and Ron Bowden on drums. Equally excellent. I think Monty and Lonnie had both left Chris Barber's Jazz Band by the time I saw the band at Dunmow in 1962/3.