Brasserie Romantiek - The Valentine's Menu - DVD

Movie: It's Valentine's Day and love is in the air everywhere. For the small brasserie Romantiek, this is one of the most important days of the year. With a special Valentine's Day menu, the aim is to offer lovers a very special evening. In addition, the menu proves to be the perfect opportunity to finally receive a second chef's hat from the Gault&Millau. The mood in the kitchen is exuberant and everyone seems to be looking forward to this evening. But even before the first course has left the kitchen it becomes clear that this Valentine's Day will be different than planned. Because suddenly the ex of chef Pascaline (Sara De Roo) is at the door and makes her an incredible offer. This throws her brother, chef Angelo (Koen De Bouw), completely off course and the atmosphere in the kitchen heats up dangerously. But there is little sign of sparkling romance in the guest room either. A frustrated wife, a shy single man or the devastated Mia ensure that the employees of the brasserie will not forget this evening so quickly.

Brasserie Romantiek - The Valentine's menu tells the stories of different people whose lives will change fundamentally in one evening. The plot is confined to two rooms: the kitchen and the dining room of a small Belgian brasserie. Although some situations are slightly overdrawn, director Joël Vanhoebrouck and the two scriptwriters were very concerned to create an atmosphere that seemed as authentic as possible. The viewer should get the feeling of visiting a real brasserie and get a glimpse into the operations of a restaurant business that largely corresponds to reality. For it is precisely this atmosphere that gives the story the special spice that the rather conventionally knitted screenplay otherwise lacks.

As is so often the case with films that are episodic in nature, some storylines work better here than others. For instance, the story of the extremely shy Walter, who clearly suffers from a personality disorder, feels a bit too over-the-top to work in the long run. But even the better moments, like the tangible marital quarrel that develops between self-absorbed businessman Paul and his frustrated wife Roos, end up being too superficial. So the film offers nice entertainment with some very amusing and also moving moments. But unfortunately it is not enough for more.

What the makers have succeeded very well, however, is to show that we are all somehow in search of love. It doesn't matter if you're married, just got dumped, never had a relationship before or if you're still mourning the one great love after many years. It also doesn't matter if the professional environment is right, if you live in financial prosperity or if you live a rather modest life. Without love, there will always be something missing. And the individual stories of the film make this very clear.

So Brasserie Romantiek - The Valentine's Menu is altogether a quite entertaining study of love, a nice mix of comedy and drama, but on balance a bit too arbitrary and inoffensive to leave a lasting impression. Therefore, there is then also only one: With restrictions worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The image of the DVD pleases with a decent overall sharpness and a very atmospheric color scheme. Furthermore, since the black levels and contrasts are well matched, the mood of the images can unfold well. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is primarily dominated by the dialogue and is rather unspectacular overall, but this is not unusual for a film of this genre and is therefore absolutely fine. Good!

Extras: The positive first: With a making of (approx. 23 min.), cut scenes (approx. 2:34 min.), as well as some outtakes (approx. 4:35 min.) the DVD offers a good extra offer. But now comes the big BUT: The bonus material is only available in the original language without subtitles. And that is for a production from Belgium then but rather unfavorable. Too bad!

Conclusion: Brasserie Romantiek - The Valentine's Menu is quite an entertaining study of love, a nice mix of comedy and drama, which unfortunately does not fully exploit its potential and in too many moments comes across a bit too harmless and arbitrary to really ignite sustainably. However, the film offers entertaining entertainment. The DVD presents itself in appealing picture and sound quality, but offers the bonus material only in the original language without subtitles. This means point deduction, but changes little in the actual conclusion: Recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp