As The Menu, director Mark Mylod’s chilling 2022 send-up of the world of unique effective eating (now viewable on Netflix), hurtled towards its dramatic ending, one thing in my mind broke. After virtually two hours of being utterly terrified — Ralph Fiennes is chilly and chilling as chef Julian Slowik, an egomaniac pushed to violence by his obsession with culinary perfection at his restaurant Hawthorne — I began laughing uncontrollably. (Observe: Main spoilers for the ending forward.)
Lastly, after torturing his friends and letting the lady he sexually harassed stab him within the leg, chef Julian’s imaginative and prescient turns into painfully humorous. As his diners watch on in horror, kitchen staffers artfully scatter the restaurant’s eating room with graham cracker crumbs and numerous sauces. After which, Julian lights the restaurant on hearth because the diners flip themselves into human s’mores. Sure, s’mores. They willingly don marshmallows and pour chocolate over their heads, and the entire thing goes up in flames. Once I first realized what was taking place, I felt like I lastly understood what The Menu was about. And now, I’ll try to unpack the twist ending of The Menu and why it truly one way or the other truly works.
Why do the diners within the movie willingly do that to themselves?
The pure chaos of this scene — who amongst us doesn’t need to watch John Leguizamo and Judith Mild flip themselves into s’mores — is coupled with the absurdity that the diners are all however willingly collaborating in their very own deaths. Collectively, the diners trapped at Hawthorne by no means actually attempt to battle again in opposition to chef Julian or escape the island. After a number of mealy-mouthed protests at the start of the meal, largely of the “have you learnt who I’m?” selection, they settle for their fates.
It appears as if the characters — all wealthy individuals who’ve hardly ever skilled discomfort of their lives — simply play alongside as a result of they merely can not fathom what’s taking place to them. They’re automatons, shifting from one plush expertise to the following, and chef Julian’s plot has, primarily, precipitated them to glitch.
What’s the movie attempting to say by turning everybody into human s’mores?
After years of serving rich, privileged individuals, Julian would need to get again at them in an particularly humiliating manner: And is there something extra humiliating than being compelled to organize your physique for consumption? After watching these characters behave within the restaurant and studying about their indiscretions exterior of it, The Menu encourages us to root for his or her demise. When you’re pondering, “Wow, he actually is popping these assholes into s’mores,” you’re additionally form of excited to see what occurs subsequent. That looks as if a reasonably apparent consequence of residing in a world the place a number of individuals will pay $1,000 for dinner at a spot like Hawthorne, whereas numerous others ponder whether they’ll have any dinner in any respect.
The place the hell does an thought like this come from?
Based on Mylod, the dish itself an emulation of chef Grant Achatz’s legendary tabletop dessert at Alinea (which, for the report, doesn’t contain any self-immolation). “Once I joined the challenge, one of many large issues I needed to alter concerning the script was to have this extra operatic ending,” Mylod instructed Eater. “We needed to finish this meal with a bang, and so we did loads of analysis on tips on how to make the specifics of the dessert parts work.”
Okay, however why s’mores and never like, a baked Alaska?
This looks as if an explicitly sensible alternative. It appears far more troublesome to coat individuals in ice cream and meringue than it does to easily ask them to placed on marshmallow fits and pour goodies over their heads. Realistically, although, it’s most likely a send-up of meals snobs who assume that s’mores suck.
Does this twist truly… work?
It’s actually sudden!!! For 2 entire hours, you have got actually no thought how this dinner goes to finish. There are factors the place you virtually get the sense that Margot — who’s revealed to be a intercourse employee and never a member of the higher crust like the remainder of the diners — could be the hero and determine tips on how to save everybody. In a extra conventional horror flick, you would possibly anticipate for every diner to be murdered not directly that’s straight associated to their unhealthy habits — perhaps the tech bros get killed by a pc or the philandering politician is offed by a mistress. However chef Julian’s choice to host a large human bonfire feels each appropriately cinematic, and appropriately restaurant-y. Doesn’t each chef need to finish the night with an ideal dessert?
What’s the take care of Margot’s burger?
Earlier than she escapes the island on a ship, Margot asks chef Julian to make a cheeseburger for her, giving the viewers one tiny glimpse of the human behind the monster. Julian smiles, and permits Margot to go away. She boards the boat with a doggy bag containing half of that cheeseburger, and the very last thing we see is Margot taking a giant chunk of the burger as she watches Hawthorne burn to the bottom from a protected distance away. However she does hear a faint clap identical to chef Julian’s as she bites into the burger, which might point out that he’s finished one thing sinister to her survival snack.
The Menu is on Netflix now.
