'The Taste of Things' hopes to conquer Oscars

'The Taste of Things,' which hopes to win an Oscar nod in January, is a sumptuous 19th century romance about a cook.

Controversy has simmered around France's entry for the Oscars, "The Taste of Things," a love letter to the country's culinary traditions but filmmaker Tran Anh Hung and star chef Pierre Gagnaire say the art of cooking is worth celebrating.

The movie, which hopes to win an Oscar nod in January, is a sumptuous 19th century romance about a cook (Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche), the gourmand she works for (Benoit Magimel) and the exquisite dishes they create.

"I've been looking for a subject about cooking for 20 years, because I wanted to make a film about an art form. And I chose culinary art -- not painting, not music," Tran told AFP at a New York screening hosted by the French government.

The director, who came to France as a child in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, first earned international attention with "Cyclo" and "The Scent of Green Papaya" both set in the Asian country.

With "The Taste of Things," the 60-year-old filmmaker said he hopes to "pay tribute to my country, which welcomed me when I was 12 years old," explaining how he was "amazed" by French culture upon his arrival.

For the 73-year-old Gagnaire, who currently has restaurants in Paris, London, Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai and Dubai, working on the film both as a consultant and in a small on-screen role was a way of "defending our know-how" in the kitchen.

"In the kitchens, in the back, we build things and defend our culture. In the kitchens, we often talk - there are French words," Gagnaire told AFP.

"And by doing what we do, we sell not just taste - we sell crockery, we sell wine, we sell everything that revolves around the...