Mostly Martha (film)
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| Mostly Martha | |
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| Directed by | Sandra Nettelbeck |
| Produced by | Karl Baumgartner Christoph Friedel |
| Written by | Sandra Nettelbeck |
| Starring | Martina Gedeck Maxime Foerste |
| Cinematography | Michael Bertl |
| Editing by | Mona Bräuer |
| Distributed by | Paramount Classics (USA) |
| Release date(s) | September 10, 2001 |
| Running time | 109 mins. |
| Country |  Italy Germany Austria Switzerland |
| Language | German, Italian |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Mostly Martha (Bella Martha) is a 2001 German romantic comedy drama film directed by Sandra Nettelbeck. It is about a skilled chef in Hamburg, Germany. When her sister dies, she is left taking care of her niece, who gives her problems. She then has to face choices about the best solution to solve the problems set forth by her niece.
The film follows the events as they occur, but has occasional interludes where Martha is speaking with her therapist about cooking.
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[edit] Plot
Martha Klein (Martina Gedeck) is a workaholic chef, single-mindedly obsessed with the perfection of her culinary creations. After her boss, restaurant-owner Frida, catches her arguing with a pair of customers over the quality of her cooking, Martha is ordered to see a therapist (August Zirner) to try to work out her control issues and poor interpersonal relationships. (Martha usually faces the stress she encounters at work by locking herself in the meatlocker until she calms down.) Meanwhile, Martha's sister, perhaps her only connection to a world outside of her job, dies in a car accident, leaving Martha in charge of her niece, the sullen and broody Lina (Maxime Foerste).
While trying to deal with her sister's death and the difficulty of raising her niece (who initially wants nothing more than to find her estranged Italian father), Martha's world is further turned upside down when Frida hires funloving and unorthodox Mario (Sergio Castellitto) as a sous-chef to replace the heavily pregnant Lea. Mario challenges Martha's defenses and bonds with Lina, who begins to accompany Martha to work. Martha begins to relax and open up to the possibility of a romantic relationship with Mario. Her progress is seemingly cut short when she forgets to pick Lina up from school while helping Lea get to the hospital to deliver her baby. While she reconciles with her niece after a heated argument, Lina's father arrives to take his daughter to Italy to live with his new wife and family. Martha is distraught and conflicted and cuts off her relationship with Mario and quits her job because she is tired of Frida's criticism.
She eventually reconciles with Mario and the two of them drive to Italy to get Lina. The closing scenes of the movie suggest that they marry, adopt Lina, and are opening up a restaurant of their own. Martha, who is still seeing her therapist, is apparently giving him cooking lessons, where he is amazed that she could tell the difference between the type of sugar he used and the type of sugar the recipe called for.
[edit] Cast
- Martina Gedeck - Martha Klein
- Maxime Foerste - Lina Klein (Martha's niece)
- Sergio Castellitto - Mario
- August Zirner - Martha's Therapist
- Sibylle Canonica - Frida
- Katja Studt - Lea
- Antonio Wannek - Carlos
- Idil Üner - Bernadette
- Oliver Broumis - Jan
- Ulrich Thomsen - Samuel 'Sam' Thalberg
- Gerhard Garbers - Herr Steinberg
- Angela Schmidt - Frau Steinberg
- Diego Ribon - Giuseppe Lorezo
- W.D. Sprenger - Noisy customer
[edit] Remake
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A feature film based on Mostly Martha, retitled No Reservations, was released in the United States in 2007. The film stars Catherine Zeta-Jones, who took classes at a Soho cooking school to prepare for the part.
