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MOSTLY MARTHA Send This Review to a Friend
An appetizing romantic comedy from Germany, "Mostly Martha" is all about food, self-confidence, elusive love and fear of commitment. It is graced with a most interesting heroine, an accomplished chef named Martha Klein, played astutely and complexly by actress Martina Gedeck, who reigns over a restaurant kitchen in Hamburg with an iron hand, is totally absorbed in her work and shuts out the possibility of becoming involved with a man. Suddenly life attacks her on two fronts.
But let's note first that "Mostly Martha" features more food preparations on screen than we've probably seen since since "Babette's Feast." Unless you take in the film after a big, satisfying meal, you may work up an extraordinary appetite.
Getting to story matters, Martha's life is shaken up when her sister is killed in an auto accident and, taking pity on her eight-year-old niece Lina (Maxine Foerste), who has an absentee Italian father, she has Lina move in with her even though the last thing Martha is prepared for is playing mom. Lina is no help. She is rebellious, grief-stricken and longs for the day when she can find her estranged father, who is off somewhere in Italy. Can a decent relationship between Martha and Lina ever be worked out?
The second source of trouble occurs when the restaurant owner hires Mario, an additional chef without having consulted Martha, who has a fiery temper and is understandably furious at the invasion of her turf. But as winsomely played by Sergio Castellitto, Mario is full of good Italian cheer and totally respectful of Martha, whose cooking he admires, and he does all he can to break through her hostility. He also turns out to be great with Lina and eases her out of her self-protective shell.
You can have an idea of where this is all headed, but suspicions of predictability don't matter, as the film is generally engaging, thanks mainly to the strong performances by Gedeck and Castellitto, and a very decent one by young Ms. Foerste. The film is the work of writer-director Sandra Nettelbeck, and she is mostly successful except toward the conclusion, when there are a few points at which it could end. It seems as if there were indecision as to how it should all come out, and the finale chosen isn't especially convincing.
But getting there is plenty of funny and "Mostly Martha" exudes considerable warmth, to say nothing of all the mouth-watering dishes and the "backstage" look at a kitchen and the machinations that are part of the scene. A Paramount Classics release.
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