The Food Club: Pasta, Vino & Amore

This tale has been told oft times. The actors do their best, with what's been given them script wise. The story is quite predictable and nothing exciting really happens, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The cast is a hodgepodge of mostly uptight Danes, who basically have to learn to enjoy what's being offered in their lives. The beautiful Italian countryside lends itself to the story. Too bad there wasn't more food included. The menus written out on the chalkboard told of wonderful dishes never to be seen. Although we do see them making orecchiette pasta! The film keeps ones interest, and there are worse ways to spend an hour and a half. 🙂

I must say that "Food Club"/"The Food Club"/"Matklubben"/"Madklubben" is nice, funny, heartwarming and interesting. And it´s always nice for me to watch Italian food.

This movie has three female friends in the centre of attention. Marie has been married to Henrik for over 40 years. They work together, have a quite large family and seems to be quite happy.

Marie and Henrik gets a Christmas present from their family members. To be more specific, it happens to be a cooking class. It takes place in Italy but Marie and Henrik are a bit hesitant. Should they travel to Italy or stay at home? Soon thereafter, Marie discovers that Henrik is cheating on her. And the mistress seems to be of the same age as Henrik and Marie.

Marie has Berling and Vanja, her two closest friends. Berling is very elegant. Her fashion reminds me of Audrey Hepburn. Berling is unmarried, but she has a daughter that she is trying to connect with.

Vanja is a widow who still mourns her husband. Their marriage also resulted in a daughter. And she, Mathilde, tries to encourage her mother to date again. But Vanja is not interested in dating.

Marie, Berling and Vanja decides to travel to Italy without their family members. They take part in the cooking class and the adventure begins.

I´m going to be honest again. I only missed one thing in this movie. More cooking. In my opinion it could have been more of that, especially because of the movie title. But I also think that this movie breaks some stereotypes about older people. And that is very good. In other words, I will highly recommend "Food Club"!

A sensitive treatment of the issues faced by three older women. The film was well-cast, and the performance of each actor was excellent. Also, the picturesque setting supported the storyline. (By the way: the English dubbing was good.)

I can't really understand the lukewarm rating here on IMDB. Maybe the viewing public wanted more action. This film is more about discovering one's self and learning how to relate to others. If that's not what you're looking for, then you might not be happy with this story.

The actresses are probably in their seventies, so Boomers are probably the target audience. Young people who are more philosophical might enjoy it, too.