The Menu

Ralph Fiennes plays Chef Slowik, the exacting master of Hawthorne, an exclusive restaurant on a private island accessible only by ferry. The evening's guests include a jaded food critic (Janet McTeer), a washed-up movie star (John Leguizamo), a trio of arrogant tech entrepreneurs, and Tyler (Nicholas Hoult), a pretentious food enthusiast who has brought Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) as his date. Margot, pragmatic and unimpressed, senses something wrong from the start.

Directed by Mark Mylod, best known for episodes of Succession and Game of Thrones, the film was shot in Savannah, Georgia, with the restaurant set built on a soundstage. The script, by Seth Reiss and Will Tracy (a Succession and The Onion veteran), was developed at Hyperobject Industries, Adam McKay's production company. Colin Stetson's score, heavy on saxophone and bass clarinet, creates an atmosphere of mounting dread. The film cost $35 million to produce and earned just under $80 million worldwide.[edit]

A ferry carries a dozen passengers to a remote island where Hawthorne restaurant awaits. Among them are Tyler, a food obsessive who can recite Slowik's menus by heart, and Margot, his date, who works as a sex worker and has never been to a place like this. The other diners include Lillian, a critic who has built her reputation on eviscerating chefs; Ted, her publisher; a movie star past his prime and his assistant; three young tech investors; and an older couple, Richard and Anne, who have dined at Hawthorne many times.

Chef Slowik greets them personally. His staff moves with military precision. The first course is presented with a flourish: an amuse-bouche that involves a shell and a foam. But the atmosphere shifts when Slowik recites a poem about the sea, then reveals that the bread served with the second course is made from the flour of the guests' own hands, a literal and metaphorical statement of control.

As the courses progress, the tension escalates. The third course, a tortilla, is served with a video of the chef's mother, who abandoned him. The fourth course, a scallop, is accompanied by a story about a fisherman who lost his fingers. Each dish seems designed to expose the guests' sins. Lillian is forced to confront her cruelty, the tech investors are mocked for their wealth, and the movie star is shown a film of his own worst performance. Tyler, however, remains ecstatic, seeing the entire experience as art.

Margot refuses to play along. She asks for a glass of wine, then sends it back. She questions the chef's authority. Slowik, intrigued, begins to focus on her. He reveals that he knows Tyler is not a food critic, as Tyler had claimed, but a fan who paid for a reservation through black-market means. He also knows that Margot is not Tyler's girlfriend.

The sixth course is a s'more, but it is not served. Instead, Slowik announces that the final course will be a shared experience: the guests will be killed, and their bodies will be used for the dessert. The staff, he explains, are willing participants in this mass suicide. The guests panic, but they are trapped. The island is isolated, the phone lines are cut, and the ferry has left.

Margot, however, remains calm. She negotiates with Slowik, asking him to make her a cheeseburger. He is intrigued by her request, and he goes to the kitchen to prepare it. She follows him, and they share a moment of understanding. She then escapes the restaurant with the burger, leaving Slowik and the others behind. As she walks away, the restaurant explodes, killing everyone inside. The final shot shows Margot sitting on the dock, eating the cheeseburger.[edit]