Amazon.com: 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
Oh so worthwhile... This is a moving and wonderful film...lovely to look at...well done on all fronts! 5 Stars for Martha.
The Best This movie is one of the best that I have ever watched. I have seen it maybe 25 times... I don't seem to tire of it. It has almost everything you could want in a movie - tension, love, sweetness, hope, loss... everything. The actors are marvelous - they are not perfect looking people - that makes it even better. The scenes with the therapist are wonderful. The small niece is very believable.
The American movie version RESERVATIONS with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart is awful compared to this original. There is no real feeling in it, nor does it make much sense. Please see this one! You will in no way be disappointed. I have recommended it to everyone I know!
Loved it... German film with English subtitles. Story centered around Martha, a 30-something, unmarried chef who works at a high end restaurant in Hamburg - and is considered by her boss to be the 2nd best chef in the city (much to Martha's chagrin). Martha is obsessed with her cooking and is a perfectionist. She's high strung, compulsive, obsessive and more comfortable with her food and cooking than with people - she is cool and distant with most she interacts with. She takes criticism about her cooking personally and attacks customers who complain. Martha comes to care for her 8-year old niece (Lina) - who is suddenly orphaned from her Mother. Lina grieves and rebels against Martha who struggles to deal with the child. Lina disrupts the strict regime of Martha's workmanlike life and forces Martha to take stock in what's important in life. Lina forces an spontaneous, care-free Italian man into Martha's life and sparks fly from her repressed inner self.
If you love food and its preparation - all surrounded and wrapped in just-right-music and beautiful cinematography (of the kitchen, of the food, of the restaurant, of Hamburg streets, of her apartment) - this is a soothing, charming, warm all-human film. Loved it...
Tastes Delicious! This movie is great! I'm a MS & HS German teacher and I was able to show this to my first year German students. Ties in nicely to curriculum involving food/cooking or just as an entertaining movie to show in the target language. It's completely school-appropriate, with the exception of two curse words in the English subtitles (which can easily be momentarily covered). A great price for a German-language, region 1 DVD!
Great acting, great music, yummy food "Mostly Martha" is an endearing film about a chef, out of touch with her emotions, who has to take care of her orphaned niece, deal with the death of her sister, her issues with control and the new chef in her kitchen. This is a great movie: enjoyable, funny at times and enchanting. The soundtrack is excellent and the food presented makes your mouth water. Hmmmm...
This movie is the precursor for No Reservations with Catherine Zeta Jones. Although the movies are basically the same (same scenes, same expressions, with some changes of course), "Mostly Martha" is far superior to "No Reservations". Mostly Martha is more endearing, more heart felt and you grow to care more about the characters. While "No Reservations" is better edited and more funny, "Mostly Martha" is more interesting, better done, better performed and more caring about its own characters. Whereas the character of Kate in "No Reservations" was more comedic and cartoonish, Martha is more real.
If you want funny, watch "No Reservations"; if you want a great movie with a bit of comedy, watch "Mostly Martha".
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