Rating: 
Summary: Cooking leads to romance...
Review: My husband (the chef) and I saw the movie preview of "Mostly Martha" on Wed. If you have any knowledge about the culinary world - you will truly enjoy this movie. A female chef who is independent and sucessful encounters some obstacles and realizes "life doesn't have a recipe" which she can follow. The movie has subtitles.
Rating: 
Summary: Mostly Martha is Mostly Magnificent
Review: I thought that "Mostly Martha" (other titles include: "Drei Sterne", and "Bella Martha") was outstanding. It showed well rounded characters, an interesting plot, a happy (though not suprising) end, and was an all around successful endeavor in film-making. I give this movie two thumbs up and suggest that everyone interested in seeing a really good film should see "Mostly Martha". Bono Appetite!
Rating:
Summary: the zest for life and love
Review: Written and directed by Sandra Nettelbeck, "Bella Martha", stangely translated as "Mostly Martha", was her first big feature film, and won international awards and delighted many...perhaps mostly women, as it is exquisitely romantic. Martina Gedeck as Martha, the master chef who tries to control her world while it collapses around her, is superb. She has an intense kind of beauty and grace, strong but emotionally fragile, and Gadeck's body language speaks volumes, and lets us see into her heart with a simple gesture of the hand, or a flicker in her eyes. This is one of the best performances I've seen in a very long time.
Her relationship with her 8 year old niece Lina, so well played by Maxime Foreste, is complex, understandable, and very moving, and the chemistry between Martha and Mario, (Sergio Castellitto is perfect in the part) is fabulous, complete opposites attracting. The supporting cast are all excellent, and director Nettelbeck plays Lina's mother in a touching video sequence.
The score by David Darling and Keith Jarrett is marvelous, with delicate sections of Arvo Part's music for one of the most tragic scenes, and includes a bit of Dean Martin's version of "Volare", and the irresistible, simply scrumptious "Via con Me" by Paolo Conte, a song so happy it would make a bear smile. The cinematography by Michael Bertel is also wonderful, with location shots of Hamburg and Italy, and overflowing vistas of delectable food.
I cried, I laughed out loud, and I will always remember this film; it is a small but polished gem.
Total running time is 109 minutes.
Rating:
Summary: I loved this movie
Review: *****
This movie was ostensibly about food, but really about love. Martha is a very lonely woman living her life for her passion, which is cooking. Throughout the movie characters---from other professional chefs to her orphaned niece---come into her life and finally she begins to love. However, it is a subtle, thought-provoking movie, not a dramatic American movie where everything is blatant and laid-out for the viewer.
I think I fell in love with Sergio Castellitto who plays Mario, an Italian chef working with Martha. The movie is worth watching simply for his performance with Martha (Martina Gedeck), who is truly excellent as well.
I just watched this movie as a rental and I am going to order it, because it is the type of movie that can and should be watched again and again to discover the layers of meaning that are there.
If you are a viewer who enjoys food or cooking, or relationship dynamics that are subtle yet profound, this is a wonderful, timeless movie. It was in German, and I hated having to watch the dialgue via the subtitles so closely, but it was well worth it. Although complex, this movie was uplifting, not dark.
*****
Rating:
Summary: Subtle directing, sublime acting and soundrack,
Review: I'd like to add to what others have said about this film that (a) the acting is wonderful (especially Martina Gedeck as Martha and Maxime Foerste as Lina) and (b) the soundtrack is absolutely sublime.
In fact, the reason I bought the DVD was that reportedly there was quite a lot of Keith Jarrett on the soundtrack, and there is, to great effect. Material from the Norwegian Quartet, the Bregenz solo concert and the trio albums Tribute and Standards Volume 2 is all used, and it combines with the film quite beautifully.
But in the end, it wasn't just the soundtrack that entranced me, but the whole film. And anyone who buys into the absurd stereotype of the lack of German humour should see this to realise how wrong they are.
WOnderful!
Rating:
Summary: This Movie is Not About Food But Love...
Review: To say that Mostly Martha is a movie about food is limiting it so something less than what it really is. It is a beautiful movie about what it means to happy in life (Its more than just a dream job). The movie is relevant to cooks and non-cooks alike and is a good date movie for the romanitics out there.
This movie uses food as metaphor on several levels to express how each character sees love. Martha (Martina Gedneck) believes that if you present something (a dish) well with your heart in it, the people receiving it naturally should love it regardless. If the person doesnt love it she is naturally hurt. Lina (Maxime Foerste, she's great!) believes that since the death of her mother she can't love, thus she can't eat. Lastly Mario, the fantastic Itallian Chef, believes food and love are a part of a good life. He exudes this principle and gets on with everyone especially well except for Martha. See the movie and find out how all of this works out..
This movie is really beautiful. If you are worried that the movie is going to be some iconoclastic german work that is going to require a lot of reading, fear not. It is great for all audiences. Reading subtitles isnt bad and if you are learning german the language is easy to understand. I recommend this film highly!
-- Ted Murena
Rating: 
Summary: A study of contrasts
Review: This movie is surprisingly touching. It took me quite a while to take a leap of faith to watch this DVD. I wouldn't hesitate should this be an Italian movie but a German movie about food, I definitely would have to reconsider. Anyhow, when the movie started, the ambiance was cold and starck. The location was cold and grey Germany. Martha hid herself in the cold fridge for moments of peace and quiet when the kitchen was becoming too much to handle. She loves her food, she knows she's good at it, she wouldn't be held ransom by her patrons, she manages her kitchen with clean precision. Her profession is everything to her. That's what makes her feel whole and that she can exert control. When she has her day off, she eats by herself in her bare apartment and she has got no life whatsoever. Her life is turned upside down when unforseen circumstance caused the death of her sister and she needs to look after her niece until the latter father can be found. Furthermore, another Italian chef is added to the kitchen team. He's exactly opposite of what Martha represents. Whilst Martha conceals everything inside herself, Mario let everything out and he enjoys his cooking as much as he enjoys his life. Martha's niece and the restaurant crew is simply enamoured by Mario's charm and joie de vivre. As any feel good movie would have it, Martha the ice queen is slowly melting and her persona starts to shine through. She gets to reveal her weaker sides and allows Mario to assist her and work along with her. Slowly, her strenous relationship is improving with Lili, her niece as well. The movie ends appropriately in Italy with the colour of landscape changes to a vivid earthy colour, good times that are shared with family and friends over fine wine and food. A sumptuous movie that spreads over one hour forty minutes but thumb up for the Director for never rushing the movie but telling it as it is. There are two sub themes here, such as the architect neighbour next floor down from Martha. There is perhaps, a romantic interest between two or them, or that the architect is to be acting as comic interest but his character simply fades out in the end. There's also supposed to be comic moment between Martha and the psychiatrist and the light hearted moment can be seen as deliberate and again, in the end, it doesn't add much to the overall flow of the film. Other than these two issues, the movie is a worthwhile movie to watch. No extras in the DVD. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Probably the most realistic restaurant story ever filmed.
Review: I laughed when I read this observation by another Amazon reviewer:
"Relatively few upright, hyper-neat perfectionists get into cooking because it is inherently messy, unpredictable and sensual. Any food actually cooked by a "Martha" would be tasteless and uninspired. Not mention that relatively few chefs are model-thin and manage to work in a kitchen as clean as a sterile surgical facility and in white clothes without a drop of grease or gravy."
Ha! Obviously this person has never worked for a German chef. I have, and Martha's methods are typical of the chefs of her country, and for all their meticulousness and "sterility," not one ever produced tasteless food (being neat and precise has no bearing on the quality of the food one produces; one's palate, skill and inventiveness do, however). But this is beside the point -- "Mostly Martha" is a terrific film on many levels, not in the least because it is a totally realistic depiction of the life of a female executive chef in ANY country. I burst out laughing as I watched Martha hide in the walk-in to cry or fume (I've done this myself many times), and the restaurant "family meal" scenes have all the coziness and familiarity of real restaurant staff meals. The plot of the movie itself could have been dreadfully treacly and sentimental (as it would have been in American hands), but instead it is affecting, romantic and honest. As such, I'd rate "Mostly Martha" up there with "Babette's Feast" and "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman," the two greatest food films ever made (interesting that none of these are American, isn't it? But American filmakers have never known the real place great food has in life, family and love, have they?).
Rating:
Summary: What an exquisite film .... Ach Du lieber, sehr gut!
Review: Actually I am more than surprised about the quality of this DVD since German films have not been on my list of priorities.
Martha is a, single, self centered, young, obsessive compulsive chef at a high class restaurant when she is saddled with her 9 year old niece when her sister dies in a car accident. The Italian father has been out of the picture for years now so Martha was thrust into immediate motherhood. Having diufficulty coping with herself and the world around her you can imagine what havoc was created by the intusion of this niece....
Martha had trouble coping, and after taking a steak to the table of an unhappy diner and driving a steak knife though the raw steak and the table, the owner decides to hire another chef to help her friend in the kitchen. WOW ... not only an intrusion in the home but also at work .... too much for Martha ...
What a great little movie loved the heroine and the Italian chef played by Sergio Castellitto was fabulous ...
Rating:
Summary: I'd recommend this film
Review: Another Amazon Reviewer wrote: " . . . I totally couldn't relate to this movie. It's so unrealistic. Relatively few upright, hyper-neat perfectionists get into cooking because it is inherently messy, unpredictable and sensual. Any food actually cooked by a "Martha" would be tasteless and uninspired. Not mention that relatively few chefs are model-thin and manage to work in a kitchen as clean as a sterile surgical facility and in white clothes without a drop of grease or gravy."
With that I have to retort with a resounding "SO WHAT???"
When I watched this movie, I sort of thought that people who actually work within the food industry would find this movie unrealistic, but then again, it's a movie, so don't expect to see "real life" enacted to a T if you're a chef. I would also think it's not worthwhile to get upset over such details, but alas, for some, getting angry because the way they see life is not depicted as they "know" it seems to ruin the entire plausibility of a film.
Anyhow, I once considered being a chef, so this movie was interesting to me, regarding the themata; secondly, the film was well made and consists of several issues going on at once, the little girl who wants to see her father, the romance between the cold, detached Martha and the boisterious Italian cook, for one. The movie itself will give you a good feeling, without being cloying or overly sentimental. In fact, the movie is quite realistic when it comes to the depictions of human relationships and how two very different people fall in love. I liked this movie and thought it was nice, and I'd recommend it.
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