“Try to deepen the role a bit,” Juliette Binoche said to *The Taste of Things* director Tran Anh Hung when she was first approached about the part.

Do It Like the French Do!

Fresh from playing Coco Chanel in The New Look, Juliet Binoche takes on the role of the live-in cook of a celebrated gourmand in The Taste of Things

By Robbie Collin

“The thing about playing such an intimate role with an ex-lover is I did not think he would be able to do it,” declares Juliette Binoche, within minutes of us sitting down to discuss her latest film, a delectable French foodie drama co-starring her former partner Benoît Magimel. “Of course,” – she raises an eyebrow – “it was never going to be a problem for me.”

Dressed in a crisp, red blouse and sharply tailored trousers, the 59-year-old Binoche – Oscar, Bafta and César winner, cinematic collaborator of Jean-Luc Godard, Michael Haneke, Krzysztof Kieślowski and Claire Denis – reaches for a plate of jellied fruits and pops one archly into her mouth.