Susan Granger’s review of “VATEL” (Miramax Films)
Based on a true story and adapted into English by Tom Stoppard from Jeanne Labrune’s French screenplay, this elegant, elaborate 17th century costume drama is propelled by the scheme of a nearly bankrupt French prince (Julian Glover) to save his province by entertaining King Louis XIV (Julian Sands) and his courtiers so lavishly that he will gain favor and patronage. To this end, he relies on his master steward Vatel (Gerard Depardieu), an artist with the power to “create and astonish,” to design and orchestrate an incredibly decadent weekend-in-the-country, a bacchanal of eating, drinking, sport and opulent theatrical spectacles. What’s unexpected is that, amidst the various sensual pleasures and treacherous sexual liaisons, the King’s new courtesan, Anne de Montausier (Uma Thurman), will take a fancy to Vatel, seeking him out amidst his army of peasants in the kitchen galleys, which infuriates the King’s scheming confidante (Tim Roth), whom she spurns. Director Roland Joffe (“The Killing Fields”) concocts an indulgent feast-for-the eye but what he sacrifices at the banquet is character development. Many relationships and political intrigues are left unexplored and unexplained. As a result, the audience remains emotionally uninvolved. Cinematographer Robert Fraisse, designer Jean Rabasse and costumer Yvonne Sassinot de Nesle create magnificent pageantry and authentically gilded excess within the vast chateau where Vatel, literally, has a finger in every pot, inventing whipped cream when the eggs go bad, drawing miraculous confections out of spun sugar, and defending a scullery lad from the unwanted advances of the Sun King’s gay brother. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Vatel” is a sumptuous 7, appealing particularly to the appetites of art-house audiences.
