Martha proves mostly wonderful

Mostly Martha, the newest release by Paramount Classics, is a wonderful German film about food and family. A lonely chef (Martina Gedek) ends up having to take care of her niece until she can contact the girl’s father. In the meantime, a new chef (Sergio Castellitto) is hired at her restaurant. As they continually butt heads, a bond between the three forms, until the day the girl’s father comes for her.

The story is clear cut and intriguing, and the subtleties of the actors are excellent. While many foreign films seem to lack in the translation, Mostly Martha does an excellent job of telling the story. The characters are realistic, human and understandable. The film seeks to understand the bonds between cultures, families and food.

Mostly Martha is Sandra Nettelbeck’s first major film which she wrote after writing and directing her two previous award-winning independent films, Loose Ends (1995) and Mammamia (1997). To her credit, the film’s style reflected a very refined group of filmmakers, with everything down to the last extra well choreographed.

The performances were no less than excellent. Martina Gedek’s role as Martha Klien was fantastic, but the real stand out is Sergio Castellitto as Mario. Speaking not one word of German, he managed to make this film in spite of the language barrier. The more observant moviegoers will notice that all of Mario’s lines were in Italian, which adds a strange if not wholly believable element to the film.