DELICIOUS
(director/writer: Nele Mueller-Stofen; cinematographer: Frank Griebe; editor: Andreas Wodraschke; music: Volker Bertelmann, Ben Winkler; cast: Farhi Yardim (John), Valerie Pachner (Esther), Carla Diaz (Theodora), Naila Schuberth (Alba), Caspar Hoffmann (Philipp), Julien de Saint Jean (Lucien), Nina Zem (Estelle), Sina Martens (Cora), Miyeck Packa (Prince), Melodie Casta (Amber); Runtime: 102; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Mare Ade, Jonas Dornbach, Janine Jackowski; Netflix; 2025-Germany-in English & German)
“A tasty German appetizer that’s not edible.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A tasty German appetizer that’s not edible, a thriller that flaunts how it would taste ‘to eat-the- rich.’ A shallow class divide film, as directed and written by first-timer German filmmaker Nele Mueller-Stofen, a former actress. She’s married to Edward Berger, the director of Conclave. There are no characters that are likeable and no justification for its violent revenge solution, or its weak story.
An affluent German family goes on a summer holiday to their beautiful gated villa in Provence, France, as they do every year. They are the married couple, John (Farhi Yardim), an academic scientist, and Esther (Valerie Pachner), a workaholic at an important corporation job, and their well-behaved but spoiled children, the teenager Philipp (Naila Schuberth) and the younger Alba (Naila Schuberth).
One night the family is driving home on a dark country road from town after dining out and John, who had a few drinks, accidentally hits a young woman hotel worker walking on the road. She’s bleeding from her arm but is not too badly hurt. Wanting to avoid the hassle of police questions about how many drinks he had or the same scrutiny if taking her to a hospital for medical treatment, Esther talks the Spaniard, Teodora (Carla Diaz), to go home with them and gives her some money. The next day they hire her as their maid after she tells the couple the hotel fired her because of her injury.
The sweet girl has a dark side, as she causes apprehension when moving in with the family. it’s unknown to them that she staged the accident for a dark purpose, and is a member of a violent anarchist group that hates the rich.
As Teodora slyly maneuvers her way into their house, she exposes how uptight is the family and even though they treat her kindly she resents them, their entitlement and their family record of labor exploitation.
The second half turns into a downtrodden character driven story filled with psychological trappings and a sharply drawn social critique of societal behavior. The story generates unease over class privileges and becomes a morality play over ‘doing the right thing,’ as it literally uses the slogan of “Eat-the-Rich” not in the humorous way it was intended to mock them.
It reminds one of Teorema (1968), the same type of class war themed film, a classic from the master Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini.
REVIEWED ON 3/9/2025 GRADE: C+
dennisschwartzreviews.com