Anton Gogoladze (Jean-Yves Gautier), while organising an exhibition of Georgian paintings in present-day Paris, comes across the lost manuscript of a story written by his mother, the beautiful Georgian Princess Cecilia Abachidze.
The story, a romantic fairytale set in the serene hiatus between the Wars, describes the adventures of a peripatetic chef, Pascal Ichac (Pierre Richard), who falls in love with a beautiful princess called — Cecilia!
Together, they embark on a Georgian culinary quest, discovering new recipes and flavours, and exploring the sensual world of haute cuisine. But Pascal's ambitions are only fully realised when he smells (he has the incredible olfactory powers of a true master chef!) - the gunpowder of a bomb designed to kill the President of Georgia, and dutifully raises the alarm. As a reward, Pascal and Cecilia are given their own restaurant, which they call The New Eldorado, and begin to create an establishment that would rival La Tour d'Argent in Paris, catering to the rich and famous. Unfortunately, the tides of history are against them and their dream is turned into The Propaganda Centre for Exemplary Communist Cooking by the advancing Red Army.
"The subject of my film is love, absolute and indestructible, which violence and hate, poison or fire, and the destructive forces of history cannot touch", says Nana Djordjaze, as lyrically sensuous as the film's storyline.
A polymath who originally studied architecture at the Academy of Arts in Tbilissi, Georgia, Djordjadze decided soon after graduating to embark on a career in film, becoming an actress, before writing and directing her first feature, Atlant, in 1979. She won a Caméra d'Or at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival for Robinsonade.
Geoff Smith
Prod Co: Les Films du Rivage with La Sept Cinéma, Studio Adam and Eve, Studio Babelsberg (Germany), C.M.C. (Belgium)
Prod: Marc Ruscart
Dir: Nana Djordjadze
Scr: Irakli Kvirikadze
Ph: Guiorgui Beridze
Prod des: Temour Chmaladze
Mus: Goran Bregovic
Ed: Vessela Martschewski, Irakli Kvirikadze
Cast: Pierre Richard, Nino Kirtadze, Micheline Presle, Temour Kamkhadze, Jean-Yves Gautier
Running time: 100mins
Int Sales: UGC
