In the scene where she eats the cheeseburger, the chef had just announced that he was about to kill everyone at the restaurant in a ritual murder. The woman character tells the chef to make a cheeseburger to prove that he has really cooking talent and is not just a pretentious hack. The chef complies because he’s a massive narcissist. The woman character is fearing for her life when she takes a bite of the cheeseburger. She takes a small bite and then asks for the burger to be taken “to go” so that she can escape from being murdered.
Would you eat a massive bite of cheeseburger when the chef just said he was going to kill you? A small bite of burger seems appropriate for the situation of the scene. Twitter discourse is so stupid.
She doesn’t ask him to make her a burger in order to prove that he’s a real chef and he doesn’t comply because he’s a narcissist, I’m kind of surprised how you could read the scene like that?
The chef is deeply unhappy with his life, where he has ended up and what he is doing. He is completely alienated from his labour, which has become feeding slop to uncaring rich assholes. The last time he felt joy and connection with his labour, was as a young man selling simple food to good folk. It was when he sold cheap cheeseburgers.
She asks him for a cheeseburger because of this, she wants to show that she “gets him” and to remind him that not all is lost. She is nervous because she is out of options and this is a huge gamble. When she asks him for the bag “to go” she is negotiating a way out within the confines of the system the chef feels trapped in.
It has nothing to do with having to prove himself, it has to do with being reminded of why he chose to serve food for a living in the first place. She is rewarded because she reconnects him with that base instinct.
Yes I have seen the scene in question, thank you for your condescension. Have you seen the rest of the movie? The whole reason she asks for a burger is because the only picture of him smiling is a hidden away photo in his home of him as a young man in a burger stand.
After the place burns down we also get a scene of her eating the burger in large mouthfuls.
In this scene she says that his food is made “without love” and that she would like a cheeseburger made “with love”. He then says “I will make you a very good, very traditional cheeseburger”. She says “I don’t think you can”.
Yes, she is challenging him, pushing him. This is part of the negotiation within the confines of the system. She cannot outright say “hey, don’t you think it would be nice to make me a cheeseburger?” Because the rules of the world demand a different behaviour. Saying that would “break the spell” so to speak, for the same reason that she can ask to get a burger to go, but she would not be able to ask “hey man aren’t you happy I reconnected you with your love of cooking? Please let me go now.”
This also couples with the fact that she is an escort. She is just as much performing her labour in that moment as he is performing his. She is playing the role of a customer in order to give him satisfaction. Wether he rekindles her love for her work as she does for him, I cannot say.
As soon as she mentions a cheeseburger he is happy, but they must dance this dance in order to get it. It’s not about proving he’s good at cooking food - It’s about enjoying cooking food, hence the “with love” instead of “tasty” or “fancy” or “perfect” or “beautiful” or any other adjective that could signify quality. He accepts the task because he wants to reconnect with cooking. Look at how he behaves thru the ordering process. It takes him back, it reminds him.
Edit: thank you for your response explaining how you got that read of the situation however. I can now understand how you could have interpreted the scene as you did. Responding with a link to the scene didn’t do that, so I’m glad you followed up.
I don’t know what the difference is between “she is challenging him” as you say and making him prove himself as a chef as I said. Frankly, I don’t even know what point you are trying to make.
It misses the point of my post. The point of my post is that she ate the cheeseburger weird in the first burger scene because she was afraid for her life.
I explain what the difference is in the following sentence, but it’s okay, we don’t have to agree. I asked how you could get the read that you did and you explained it. That’s what I asked for.
I’m fascinated by how much I’ve gone to bat for The Menu and Anya Taylor Joy in this thread, because I truly have no opinions about either. I liked her in Queen’s Gambit, but that’s all I know her from. I liked The Menu the one time I’ve seen it.
I guess I just really dislike media takes based on misunderstandings
The funniest part of the scene is where she says “I think my eyes were bigger than my stomach”, with ATJ’s big eyes looking at him. It had to be a joke right?
Would you eat a massive bite of cheeseburger when the chef just said he was going to kill you?
Considering part of what saves her is that she’s showing that he can make good food that’s not some pretentious deconstruction of food, and also that she’s not some bougie fuck like the rest of the restaurant guests, I’d say taking a big sloppy ass greasy bite out of that fucker like she’s hungover at Five Guys would have been the more appropriate move.
Yeah but wouldn’t it make more sense to do that in front of the chef? Show him that he did indeed make a good ass burger and that she is enjoying it like a regular ass person? She was smart and ballsy enough to call him out on his BS I think she’d have the guts to chow down on the thing.
No, it’s cause an actor is too rich to know how to act. She can play a puritan former wife just fine, but she’s too born rich to convincingly eat a hamburglar
I’m somehow not believing that knowing “how to eat cheeseburger” is a class signifier. She also finishes eating the burger pretty normally before the end credits when she is escaping on the boat. I am a huge fan of cheeseburgers myself and it looks to me that she was eating the burger pretty normally at the ending. But what do I know? I’m not a twitter burger phrenologist.
SpoilersIn the scene where she eats the cheeseburger, the chef had just announced that he was about to kill everyone at the restaurant in a ritual murder. The woman character tells the chef to make a cheeseburger to prove that he has really cooking talent and is not just a pretentious hack. The chef complies because he’s a massive narcissist. The woman character is fearing for her life when she takes a bite of the cheeseburger. She takes a small bite and then asks for the burger to be taken “to go” so that she can escape from being murdered.
Would you eat a massive bite of cheeseburger when the chef just said he was going to kill you? A small bite of burger seems appropriate for the situation of the scene. Twitter discourse is so stupid.
She doesn’t ask him to make her a burger in order to prove that he’s a real chef and he doesn’t comply because he’s a narcissist, I’m kind of surprised how you could read the scene like that?
The chef is deeply unhappy with his life, where he has ended up and what he is doing. He is completely alienated from his labour, which has become feeding slop to uncaring rich assholes. The last time he felt joy and connection with his labour, was as a young man selling simple food to good folk. It was when he sold cheap cheeseburgers.
She asks him for a cheeseburger because of this, she wants to show that she “gets him” and to remind him that not all is lost. She is nervous because she is out of options and this is a huge gamble. When she asks him for the bag “to go” she is negotiating a way out within the confines of the system the chef feels trapped in.
It has nothing to do with having to prove himself, it has to do with being reminded of why he chose to serve food for a living in the first place. She is rewarded because she reconnects him with that base instinct.
Edit: fixed punctuation
The escort escaped by using her skilled labor. Did no one else catch that?
Yeah I get into that further down in the thread. I feel like it’s pretty obvious that the movie did that, but I guess not.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pls7lt9Fz-E
Yes I have seen the scene in question, thank you for your condescension. Have you seen the rest of the movie? The whole reason she asks for a burger is because the only picture of him smiling is a hidden away photo in his home of him as a young man in a burger stand.
After the place burns down we also get a scene of her eating the burger in large mouthfuls.
In this scene she says that his food is made “without love” and that she would like a cheeseburger made “with love”. He then says “I will make you a very good, very traditional cheeseburger”. She says “I don’t think you can”.
Yes, she is challenging him, pushing him. This is part of the negotiation within the confines of the system. She cannot outright say “hey, don’t you think it would be nice to make me a cheeseburger?” Because the rules of the world demand a different behaviour. Saying that would “break the spell” so to speak, for the same reason that she can ask to get a burger to go, but she would not be able to ask “hey man aren’t you happy I reconnected you with your love of cooking? Please let me go now.”
This also couples with the fact that she is an escort. She is just as much performing her labour in that moment as he is performing his. She is playing the role of a customer in order to give him satisfaction. Wether he rekindles her love for her work as she does for him, I cannot say.
As soon as she mentions a cheeseburger he is happy, but they must dance this dance in order to get it. It’s not about proving he’s good at cooking food - It’s about enjoying cooking food, hence the “with love” instead of “tasty” or “fancy” or “perfect” or “beautiful” or any other adjective that could signify quality. He accepts the task because he wants to reconnect with cooking. Look at how he behaves thru the ordering process. It takes him back, it reminds him.
Edit: thank you for your response explaining how you got that read of the situation however. I can now understand how you could have interpreted the scene as you did. Responding with a link to the scene didn’t do that, so I’m glad you followed up.
I don’t know what the difference is between “she is challenging him” as you say and making him prove himself as a chef as I said. Frankly, I don’t even know what point you are trying to make.
It misses the point of my post. The point of my post is that she ate the cheeseburger weird in the first burger scene because she was afraid for her life.
I explain what the difference is in the following sentence, but it’s okay, we don’t have to agree. I asked how you could get the read that you did and you explained it. That’s what I asked for.
I’d take a big bite
If I’m dying I’ll die full
She eats the rest as she watches the place burn to the ground from a safe distance
We stan a cold queen
I’m fascinated by how much I’ve gone to bat for The Menu and Anya Taylor Joy in this thread, because I truly have no opinions about either. I liked her in Queen’s Gambit, but that’s all I know her from. I liked The Menu the one time I’ve seen it.
I guess I just really dislike media takes based on misunderstandings
The funniest part of the scene is where she says “I think my eyes were bigger than my stomach”, with ATJ’s big eyes looking at him. It had to be a joke right?
Considering part of what saves her is that she’s showing that he can make good food that’s not some pretentious deconstruction of food, and also that she’s not some bougie fuck like the rest of the restaurant guests, I’d say taking a big sloppy ass greasy bite out of that fucker like she’s hungover at Five Guys would have been the more appropriate move.
I think I remember her doing it like that when she was on the boat.
Yeah but wouldn’t it make more sense to do that in front of the chef? Show him that he did indeed make a good ass burger and that she is enjoying it like a regular ass person? She was smart and ballsy enough to call him out on his BS I think she’d have the guts to chow down on the thing.
Well on the other hand she also has to sell the fact that she isn’t actually hungry, and that shed like to get it to go.
In my experience, people who eagerly hork down half their meal are the most likely to ask for a to-go box.
No, it’s cause an actor is too rich to know how to act. She can play a puritan former wife just fine, but she’s too born rich to convincingly eat a hamburglar
I’m somehow not believing that knowing “how to eat cheeseburger” is a class signifier. She also finishes eating the burger pretty normally before the end credits when she is escaping on the boat. I am a huge fan of cheeseburgers myself and it looks to me that she was eating the burger pretty normally at the ending. But what do I know? I’m not a twitter burger phrenologist.
I forgot about the boat part. Yeah, she chimps down on that burg pretty hard then.