The Menu Breadless Accompaniments
Why am I writing about a movie I saw years ago?
So one particular scene that stood out was the Breadless Accompaniments. Bread is a common appetizer for dinners. And for the guests at Hawthorn to not receive bread should've been a compliment, as they are exclusive high-end clients, and they are about to be served such an abundance and such high-quality food, bread will only fill them up early and even ruin their palate for the upcoming courses. But that's not true in context. Really, Slovik was giving them all the biggest middle finger of all time to starve them of their greed and arrogance. Especially when it's revealed they have hurt people
And the irony. They were supposed to be served bread not by Slovik's line cooks, who are clearly cultists of his perfectionist obsessions, but by an honest working-class company essentially serving bread to higher-class clients. It's like if the tree were supposed to pay taxes for just breathing the same air to a lion, when the lion would never appreciate the fruit the tree produces.
What's even more insulting is how each character reacts.
Tyler literally couldn't help but want more of the itty bitty sauces, when they probably don't even taste good without bread. And he was shameless, as if this were not a high-end restaurant, and you were not in a private room. He only consumes it but doesn't actually eat it.
The finance bros demanded and offered to pay extra for bread.
And the only bread they are served is cold, hard justice with their sins laid as bare and dry as the bread they get. While they got their delayed gratitude, only the truth was all they had to eat.
I like how Margot, without again knowing the truth of the dinner, immediately gave a different response. Rather than trying to blend in or behave in her assigned role, she refuses to play his game. She's insulted that she's not good enough or too good to get bread, but doesn't eat at all. Effectively, she doesn't degrade herself to follow his rules and eat without being served bread, and shows dignity as a customer by not eating a dish that needs bread when there is no bread.
