Mostly Martha (Bella Martha)
A welcome addition to that sub-genre of films depicting dour north Europeans falling for Latino charm (c.f. Italian for Beginners), Mostly Martha is a German comedy from writer/director Sandra Nettleback about a workaholic chef who has to force herself out of her fixation and learn to live a bit.
Martha (Martina Gedeck) is head chef of a fancy Hamburg restaurant who has no problem with lecturing customers who object to the texture of her fois gras. Her obsessive attitude towards her work has kept her single and her colleagues at arm’s length. Because of her phenomenal culinary abilities (she is reputedly the second best chef in Hamburg) and dedication to her work, her boss, Frida (Sibylle Canonica), cuts Martha plenty of slack. In spite of regular appointments with a therapist, played by August Zirner, Martha finds it difficult to control her temper in and out of the kitchen. On one occasion she throws a raw slab of meat at a customer who complains that his steak is overdone. Even her kindly new neighbour Sam (Ulrich Thomsen), for whom she offers to cook, fails to remove the deep furrows from her brow.
But when Martha’s sister is tragically killed in a road accident and she is left to look after her orphaned niece, Lina, she doesn’t know what to do. Martha has problems enough fending for herself because her fixation with her work means she has no time for friends, hobbies, or anything else.
Eight year old Lina, played by Maxime Foerste, shares her aunt’s stubbornness. She hides in her room, skips school, and doesn’t seem to be interested in anything. She even turns her nose up at Martha’s cordon bleu cooking - the ultimate insult. But while Lina’s behaviour is understandable - her mother has just died after all - Martha’s obduracy has been built up over years. And when Frida hires the charming sous-chef, Mario, who manages to win over Lina, Martha feels threatened professionally and her hackles rise even further.
The humour of the film rises from the battle of wills between Martha and her niece, Martha’s failure to relate to anyone without the medium of food, and Mario’s amiable refusal to accept Martha’s crankiness.
Martha can’t stay the way she is forever and, predictably, her icy exterior begins to thaw under Mario’s patience and good offices. Martina Gedeck portrays Martha’s struggle against her own pride credibly, avoiding easy clichés. Martha learns to be hopeful as she opens herself up to new options, but her new found wisdom does not come without a fight.
It’s refreshing to watch a film about a woman who is obsessed with her work, rather than with men, as is in the case with so many modern comedies. Though her singledom becomes a theme, the stress of the workplace, and the inadvertent camaraderie it brings, are experiences that most women can readily relate to and encounter on a daily basis. Mostly Martha is not concerned with wish fulfilment - Martha already has all she wants in her job. Rather, it entertains the possibility that there is more to life than creating the perfect dish.
One thing the film never does is explain why Martha behaves as she does. Indeed, a home video shows her late sister to have been a gregarious, fun-loving mother, and the striking difference in the siblings’ personalities is never explained. We must simply accept at face value that Martha is as icy as any of the delicacies in her restaurant’s freezer.
Martina Gedeck is superb in her headlining role, which came before she received worldwide acclaim in Lives of Others and the Baader-Meinhof Complex. She is archly sexy, switching from cool to warm with the raising of a well shaped eyebrow, thus avoiding the saccharine romance that a female rom-com role would conventionally require. Maxime Foerste gives a very convincing performance as her sullen and maladroit niece.
The lightest moments of the film come from Sergio Castellitto who plays Mario. Though his character is not fully developed, he brings light relief when emotions are running high; underplaying what could easily have become the stock comic Italian.
Manfred Eicher’s jazzy score gives the film a light-hearted, dinner party feel, without detracting from its more intense moments.
