Mostly Martha, He Said

In the German film, "Mostly Martha", Martha is a Chef that is anal retentive about her food, it's preparation and presentation. We also soon become aware that she has no life outside her kitchen. However, it's not the Martha that probably comes to the American film viewer's mind.

This Martha is the head chef in a fine German restaurant. By her own admission she has worked very hard to get to the position she is in and feels extremely comfortable with her standards. Much to the discomfort of the owner, she finds it easy to tell off a fastidious, but singularly stupid customer, that he doesn't know anything about food and she wouldn't mind if they didn't eat her cooking, if they can't appreciate it.

Her sister, as single mom, dies in an accident and Martha is forced to take care of her eight year old niece, Lina. Martha, while well intentioned, is ill prepared to deal with an eight year old, particularly one that is angry, confused and traumatized by the loss of her only parent.

There is a solution here. Martha is aware that the father is an Italian man, but knows only his first name, Giuseppe. Lina wants Martha to find her birth-father. Lina has the typical abandon childs fantasy about him. While she searches, Martha goes through the problems that any parent has, taking a difficult child to school, finding someone to watch her while she works and getting her to eat the right food.

Than there is the problem of Martha's employer hiring another cook to "help" Martha through her difficult times. Martha doesn't think she needs help and views the new cook, Mario, as competition. We get the feeling Mario is going to be problems in Martha's, now all of a sudden, topsy turvy world. Instead Mario acts as a calming influence in the kitchen, in Martha's relationship with Lina and finally with Martha herself.

This romantic comedy was the basis for a new American film, "No Reservations", starring Catherine Zeta-Jones. I have not seen this film and under normal circumstances I would not. Sorry, I'm no fan of Catherine Zeta-Jones nor American romantic comedies. Both are too predictable and formula driven to be interesting to me. However, the opportunity to compare and contrast will motivate me to rent, "No Reservations" when it is released on DVD.