Main Cast: Lisa Richards, Mary Crosby, Gwen Welles, Nelly Alard, Frances Bergen
Release Year: 1990
Country: US
Run Time: 110 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
The title of Henry Jaglom's stream-of-consciousness Eating says it all. Three women (Lisa Blake Richards, Mary Crosby and Marlena Giovi), each celebrating a "milestone" birthday, decide to throw a joint party. Attending the revelries is French documentary filmmaker Martine Nely Alard, who becomes fascinated when none of the guests will touch the meticulously prepared birthday cake. As Martine begins interviewing the partygoers, she discovers the importance that food holds in each of their lives. One of the most revelatory improvisational monologues is delivered by a matriarch portrayed by Frances Bergen, the real-life widow of Edgar Bergen and the mother of Candice. Though Eating is not for everyone's taste, for those in tune with the fiercely independent Jaglom, the film is a cinematic smorgasbord. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
A typical entry in Henry Jaglom's talky oeuvre, Eating features an ensemble cast of Hollywood nobodies exhausting a topic of discussion, and in this case the topic is food. With very little plot, the film follows an intimate cinéma vérité style that suggests the actors are having real conversations at a real birthday party. Most of the attendees are ultra-neurotic actresses and other Southern California party gals, with the exception of the matronly Frances Bergen, who appears to represent the myth of traditional femininity. Talking about food quickly evolves into revealing deep obsessions, eating disorders, and a multitude of personal dissatisfactions. While a pseudo-documentary about women openly discussing body issues could have been interesting, Eating grows old very fast. Jaglom has selected a roomful of privileged, upper-class, mostly white women, and he indulges in every self-depreciating thought they ever had. The point is made very quickly and frequently, accented by moments of sincere humor amidst the psychobabble from wealthy model types complaining about their relationship to food. Although it might seem annoying to some, the film is also strangely fascinating on a voyeuristic level as these women are letting their usually superficial guard down for all to see. Jaglom has a distinct filmmaking style that is surely not for everybody, but those that enjoy peering into the neuroses of others may find Eating to be an interesting social study. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Elizabeth Kemp - Nancy; Marlena Giovi - Sadie; Daphna Kastner - Jennifer; Marina Gregory - Lydia; Beth Grant - Bea; Savannah Smith Boucher - Eloise; Claudia Brown - Gabby; Rachelle Carson - Cathy; Anne Curry - Cory; Donna Germain - Gerri; Aloma Ichinose - Maria; Taryn Power - Anita; Jacqueline Woolsey - Milly; Toni Basil - Jackie; Ann Bell; Hildy Brooks; June Christopher; Juliette Marshall; Mindy Seeger; Lisa-Marie Soble; Katherine Wallach; Carole Ita White; Kim Knode; Margot Rose
Credit
Henry Jaglom - Director, Henry Jaglom - Editor, Hanania Baer - Cinematographer, Judith Wolinsky - Producer, Andrea Fenton - Set Designer, Henry Jaglom - Screenwriter
Eating is an American comedic drama film starring Nelly Alard, Lisa Blake Richards, Frances Bergen, Mary Crosby, Gwen Welles, Elizabeth Kemp, Marina Gregory and written and directed by Henry Jaglom.
Plot
At a house in Los Angeles, Helene is turning forty and her friends throw her a party. The guests arrive for the party while one of them shoots the events with a movie camera and films their conversations about eating and romance.
