The opening scene of Delicious is the most compelling in the entire movie. A wealthy German family visiting France is sitting in traffic, impatiently waiting to get to their villa in Provence. In the streets, protests rage, with their driver explaining people are trying to get paid higher salaries at work. “Life is too expensive,” he says. However, his explanation is cut off when matriarch Esther (Valerie Pachner) asks him if there’s any way to take a smaller road to their destination. This ignorance of the world around her cleanly cements the themes of the Netflix original movie.

While these important themes remain relevant throughout the film, Delicious slowly starts prioritizing what it’s trying to say over how it presents its message. While this comes in the form of stellar visual symbolism and memorable lines, the story and characters steadily become less important than the movie’s main takeaway. Even though its message remains strong and resonant throughout, it’s the presentation that ultimately leaves it feeling too static. In turn, this makes the movie unremarkable, despite having all the ingredients for a worthwhile dish.

Delicious Starts Strong, But Its Characters Lack Compelling Traits

Actors Perform Well Despite Unremarkable Roles

The premise of Delicious offers a powerful hook right away. After dining at a nearby H๏τel, the core family believes they’ve accidentally hit a young woman, Teodora (Carla Díaz), with their car. After taking her home to patch up her wound, they decide to hire her after learning she’d been fired from her previous job because of her injuries. What they don’t know is that Teodora injured herself with the help of a friend, her arrival being a ruse for a bigger plot. Trying to uncover her true motive is an intriguing way to begin the Netflix thriller.

But the story appears to come secondary to the film’s layered symbolism, which reiterates the points made in the opening sequence in uniquely eye-catching ways. Cinematographer Frank Griebe’s work shines through in these scenes, balancing the more overt nods to the movie’s themes with subtler presentations, allowing for plenty of analysis as the story unfolds. Unfortunately, this acts as a double-edged sword for the movie. While the visual elements of the film are a perfect compliment to the ideas of class disparity being explored, that same level of engagement doesn’t translate to the characters.

Despite strong performances from Pachner, Fahri Yardım, Caspar Hoffmann, and Naila Schuberth, their characters don’t have much depth. Outside superficial elements to emphasize the theme of the rich being ignorant or underestimating the poor, they aren’t very interesting. While Pachner’s Esther and Yardım’s John get some development as the movie progresses, Hoffmann’s Philipp and Schuberth’s Alba remain static throughout. Their ignorance appears to be their main trait, but it doesn’t make for interesting storytelling when everyone feels borderline interchangeable in their roles.

The Story Of Delicious Starts Out Interesting, But Gets Lost In Its Own Themes

The Movie Grows Less Satisfying The Longer It Goes On

What makes Delicious so disappointing, however, is that the story begins with an intriguing premise. It’s clear right away that, while money plays a role in Teodora’s schemes, it’s not the only motivator for why she wants to work for the family. There’s a deeper reason for her manipulation, oftentimes playing off their ignorance around different subjects to toy with them. It’s reminiscent of how HBO’s The White Lotus’ story approaches similar themes, while its isolating mood conjures images of 2023’s Leave the World Behind.

Despite these favorable comparisons, the film ultimately doesn’t have an interesting enough story to compliment its ideas. As the plot progresses, events go from realistic to ridiculous, making leaps in logic as Teodora’s plan unfolds. These end up feeling silly, illustrative of the film’s class disparity commentary while also failing to add weight to those ideas. Without strong characters and a story that stands out, Delicious feels like it’s missing the proper push it needs to make its message memorable, even if some scenes are interesting on their own.

While Delicious presents plenty of interesting ideas, powerful themes, and compliments it with memorable cinematography, the weak story and characters ultimately drag the film down. It becomes too lost in the messages it’s trying to convey instead of using an intriguing plot to make its points with more tact. Even though many of the ideas in the movie are neat, it’s the lackluster presentation that prevents them from holding deeper meaning.

Delicious is now streaming on Netflix.