Food movies. Gotta love ’em. From Babette’s Feast (1987) to Eat, Drink, Man, Woman (1994), filmmakers love to use cookery as a cinematic metaphor and it’s seldom advisable watching one on an empty stomach. Eden, a sweet natured romance, is set in a small resort town in the Black Forest and concerns portly master chef Gregor (Josef Ostendorf). Lonely, eccentric, but a culinary genius, Gregor serves his unique brand of “erotic cuisine” for a select band of gourmets and spends his free time at a café where he befriends waitress Eden Drebb (Charlotte Roche). Gregor bakes a chocolate cake for Leonie (Leonie Stepp), Eden’s daughter who has Down’s Syndrome. The heavenly taste sends mother and daughter into rapture. Eden becomes a regular guest at Gregor’s kitchen, savouring their evening meals just as he comes to love cooking for her. But Eden’s husband, Xaver (Devid Strieslow) cannot believe the relationship is platonic. When Eden becomes pregnant he suspects the worst.
The dinner scenes are delightful. Watching Gregor prepare his dishes with loving care and serve them to a grateful Eden, who relishes every bite, becomes a truly moving experience. Michael Hofmann avoids the cliché of life lessons dispensed via cookery and instead has the act of preparing, eating and appreciating a gourmet meal represent love being given, received then reciprocated. Josef Ostendorf’s quixotic performance befits a lead character unable to express his feelings in any way except cookery. Charlotte Roche’s blissful smile and hushed tones go a long way towards selling the idea of eating as a sensual experience.
Away from the core relationship, things prove more problematic. Devid Strieslow is agreeably complex as the boorish Xaver, alternately tragic, comic and monstrous, but several peripheral characters are too vague. Why does Xaver’s father take against Gregor almost instantly? What makes Xaver’s traffic cop buddy so certain Eden is being unfaithful? Why isn’t his dad surprised? Hofmann’s direction is a little too low key for its own good and the film takes a leftfield lurch into bleak, bloody, darkly humorous territory that feels out of place.
Hofmann claims Eden is about the power of love. However, though there is a silver lining, ultimately it is a film about a love that destroys rather than nurtures. And that leaves a rather bitter aftertaste.
