[Film Review] An Exquisite Meal (2021)

An Exquisite Meal follows dinner hosts Dave and Irene as they aim to entertain their dearest friends with a sumptuous meal, expertly put together by Dave. As the night continues, the situation begins to become more bizarre with several occurrences putting a halt to the evening’s pleasantries.  

As Beth (Victoria Neugent) and her partner Mark (Ross Magyar) arrive at their friends Dave and Irene’s dinner party, pretences are put on display. Dave and Irene seem to have the ideal life and relationship, having extensively travelled with Irene being an inspiring writer and Dave a budding five star chef. Also joining them is Annie, a yoga instructor who goes into war zones to teach victims of conflict how to downward dog. As well as Edouard whose dodgy french accent rivals Pepé Le Pew, and Paul, who insists he’s Annie’s friend. 

Straddling the uncanny from the get-go, Robert Bruce Carter’s An Exquisite Meal explores the dynamics between guests, both invited and uninvited, at a seemingly typical American dinner party. From the very beginning, each participant of the evening is presented as cagey and putting on a front, disguising their true intentions and desires. Dave (Mike Jimerson) is perhaps the most disconcerting of all the characters, portraying a welcoming host yet with a certain level of forcefulness that leaves viewers with a sense of discomfort. 

In a world where every person seems to have two personality profiles, the flawless person which they put forward on social media, and the real character they are behind closed doors and offline, sometimes it can be difficult to differentiate the two. This seems to be the underlying theme in An Exquisite Meal. On the outside, both the guests and hosts have ideal lives, relationships and careers, but as the evening continues and stomachs growl with hunger, the facades begin to slip. Seemingly perfect couples have cracks in their foundations, confidence is revealed as insecurity and Michelin star menus are not what they appear to be. 

When a film is set in a single location, there must be certain techniques employed to combat possible boredom that can be incurred. Unfortunately this is where An Exquisite Meal falls short. There is very little tension created within the chamber piece, and so it creates a confusion that does nothing to add to the narration or atmosphere. The inclusion of random uninvited guests, while meant to be a tool to which to reveal the fakeness of the original participants of the evening, just seems futile.

An Exquisite Meal is a narrative on the fronts that people put on to appear more successful and happy than they may actually be underneath it all. Unfortunately it seems the restriction of both location and the running time of the film work against the messaging, with a lack of clear story and character development and a missing strength of conviction. It’s difficult not to draw comparisons with other similar dinner dramas like The Invitation (2015), but where Karyn Kusama’s feature perfectly creates tension and mystery, unfortunately An Exquisite Meal just misses the point, despite strong performances from the hosts of the evening, Dave and Irene.  

RELATED ARTICLES

---

---

EXPLORE

---

MORE ARTICLES

---

---