Revenge is a dish best served cold
Year: 2016
Running Time: 106 minutes
Dis Koue Kos, Skat (literally translated as "It's Cold Food, Dear" but more idiomatically as "It's Just Desserts, Dear") has been on my list of movies to watch for a while now. I finally bought the DVD and I'm glad I did. It is a fantastic film, based on the novel by Marita van der Vyver, with brilliant performances from two of South Africa's exceptional actresses, Anna-Mart van der Merwe and Elzabé Zietsman. The food featured throughout the film is almost a character itself, offering solace and a kind of catharsis for the main character as she comes to terms with the end of her marriage.
Clara Brand (played by Anna-Mart) is a food writer whose husband, Bernard (Deon Lotz) leaves her for a younger and blonder woman, Anais - and Clara's friend and colleague. Clara turns to wine, cigarettes and jam-making as she tries to cope with the betrayal and humiliation. Enter her tell-it-like-it-is colleague and confidant, Minette (Elzabé Zietsman), who offers some sage advice: "Sort jou kak uit" (Sort your shit out) and "Hou op fokken jam kook!" (Stop making fucking jam!).
Clara then returns to EVA Magazine, greeted by sympathetic looks from her colleagues - OMG Anne Hirsch is one of said colleagues...side note: when is she going to get her own film? - only to find Bernard and his "slet" making out in the elevator. Clara makes a bold decision to move to Cape Town with their children, and their dog, Tjoklit, where she offers cooking classes to seven men, whom she affectionately refers to as her "7 disciples" or the "7 dwarves". Things seem to be going better until she learns Bernard and Anais are engaged. She then fantasizes of ways to ruin their impending nuptials.
However, she meets Ari (Frank Opperman), a chef and restaurant owner who loves opera and Fokofpolisiekar and wins Clara over with his charm and culinary skills. Instead of flowers, he delivers artichokes to her door which leads to a passionate tryst: "Other women are seduced by roses and diamonds. One bunch of vegetables at my door and my sheets fly open like stage curtains."
One day Clara's dog dies and, in a moment of self-pity and loneliness, she agrees to meet Bernard in his hotel room for "one glass" of wine, which leads Bernard to attempt to rekindle the flames of passion between them. He sends Clara several "perverted" (according to Minette) messages daily. Minette believes Clara should use this to her advantage - to get revenge on Anais, a kind of poetic justice for her and Bernard's betrayal. However, she warns Clara not to feel anything or she'll burn more than just her fingers. And so Clara puts the plan into motion.
Clara finds the closure she is looking for and savours her victory as she savours the delicious sweet dessert in her final meeting with Bernard at a fancy restaurant. I love her final lines: "I've always believed that there's a recipe for every occasion...a dish that soothes your sorrow, celebrates your happiness, shows your love or even lets revenge burn inside you like chilies. And perhaps the most important ingredient for any recipe is faith."
The DVD includes hilarious outtakes, deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes footage. It is a heart-warming and hilarious film that has something to say about love, loss, revenge and of course, food and one that is worth adding to your collection.
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