Studio ARTE, Kinowelt Filmproduktion, Palomar Pictures International, Pandora Film, Prisma, Schweizer Fernsehen, SRG, SSR Productions, Sudwestfunk, T & C Film, WDR TV, Österreichischer Rundfunk
Other Titles • Mostly Martha (2002) • Bella Martha • Drei Sterne • Ricetta d'Amore
Synopses for Mostly Martha (2001)
1.
Mostly Martha is a rich addition to the recent banquet of movies about food. Martha (Martina Gedeck), the domineering chef at a fancy restaurant, has her rigid routine broken when her sister dies in a car wreck, leaving behind her 9-year-old daughter Lina (Maxime Foerste). Martha takes the girl in, but has no gift for maternal expression; she offers Lina food, but Lina refuses to eat. Meanwhile, her control over her kitchen is threatened when her boss hires a buoyant Italian named Mario (Sergio Castellitto) to assist, and Martha finds herself flailing in an effort to reestablish control of her life. While Mostly Martha may not hold many surprises, the writing, direction, and particularly the acting are as sumptuous and sensual as the cooking and eating. The relationship between Martha and Lina is portrayed with all its awkwardness and complications intact; the result is wonderfully affecting. --Bret Fetzer
(15 votes)
2.
German director Sandra Nettelbeck whips up a tasty entry in the burgeoning "love and food" romance genre with MOSTLY MARTHA, the tragicomic tale of an uptight professional chef who finds her world turned upside down when she becomes the caretaker for her newly orphaned niece Lina (Maxime Foerste). Martina Gedeck stars as Martha, whose obsession with precision gourmet cooking extends to discussing recipes with her bewildered therapist (August Zirner) and verbally attacking anyone at the restaurant who attempts to send her food back. When she's forced to expand her life to include Lina, her hermetic world begins to crumble. Sullen, despondent, and--worst of all--refusing to eat, Lina proves herself more than a match for Martha's iron will. Enter a boisterous, life-embracing Italian chef (Sergio Castellitto) who's been hired at the restaurant without Martha's consent, and the table is set. Sparks fly, personalities clash, and simmering, repressed emotions come bubbling to the frothy surface. Though perhaps not the most original recipe, the acting here is as impeccable as the cooking, and the cinematography, by longtime Nettlebeck-collaborator Michael Bertl, infuses the food and locales with glistening, sumptuous warmth.
(15 votes)
3.
In Martha's enchanted kitchen, a recipe for passion is starting to simmer.
Martha is a single woman who live for one passion: cooking. The head chef at a chic restaurant, Martha has no time for anything - or anyone - else. But Martha's solitary life is shaken when a fateful accident brings her sister's eight-year-old daughter, Lina, to her doorstep. As Martha struggles to care for her headstrong niece, the restaurant hires a charming and carefree Italian chef named Mario. Suspicious of Mario's intentions, Martha slowly discovers that he has a special recipe for living - one that will touch her home and her heart.
(15 votes)
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