In the dark comedy “The Menu” by Mark Mylod, Ralph Fiennes plays star chef Julian Slowik, who owns the upscale Hawthorne restaurant on a private island that is sealed off from the rest of the world. The movie centres on a group of affluent people who visit the restaurant to sample Slowik’s culinary masterpieces but soon learn they won’t be making it out alive. Margot Mills/Erin, who doesn’t represent the wealthy class, escapes the chef’s murderous scheme by ordering a cheeseburger while other patrons accept their deaths after failing to leave the restaurant. Of course, the viewers must be curious to learn more about the specifics and importance of the food. Here is what we can say about it, though! Spoilers follow.
What is the Significance of the Cheeseburger?
Prior to valuing his image as a chef of international fame, Slowik worked as a regional chef who produced dishes that pleased his patrons. When Erin enters his private room, she finds a newspaper photo of Slowik cooking a burger and looking incredibly happy in it. As his work progressed, he began to lose the same thrill since he began to serve a group of upper-class patrons who pretended to like Slowik’s food. The chef soon came to the conclusion that his patrons came to the upscale restaurant to dine in order to uphold their reputations and to brag about their status and fortune.
In order to avenge the death of his delight of cooking for the satisfaction of one’s heart and hunger, Slowik sets out to murder a number of his patrons who stand for the aforementioned elite class. According to Slowik, the group’s wealthy members forced him into the charade of being a “artist” by encouraging him to produce useless “pieces of art.” By choosing a cheeseburger, Erin stands out among his regular clients. The young woman’s request for one allows the chef the chance to prepare a dish that might, after some time, fulfil one’s appetite and heart. Slowik cooks the cheeseburger himself since he doesn’t want to miss the fun of making a dish that will be useful while his chefs prepare food for other clients.
Except for Erin, Slowik’s patrons are in Hawthorne to act as though they enjoy the chef’s cuisine. The other diners’ pretence is visible in Lillian’s attempts to elevate a pretentious dish and Richard’s tenth visit to the restaurant without even remembering a single item on the menu. This is true even after the chef humiliates them. There is no greater pleasure for a chef like Slowik than creating and providing a dish for a customer who expresses their hunger and need for fulfilment by ordering a cheeseburger. That is the reason the chef gets so incredibly enthusiastic about preparing a common food like a cheeseburger.
If Slowik is the one serving the same food, his patrons will pretend to find it meaningful. When he observes a group pretending to enjoy bread accompaniments without the bread or some unrelated little leaves presented on a rock, he realises that his idea was correct. Erin declares that if Slowik serves the same foods again, she would not only ask him about them but also return them. Erin makes it obvious that she wants a cuisine that will satisfy her appetite and can be eaten with her heart by ordering a cheeseburger with fries.
The cheeseburger also represents Erin in many ways. A cheeseburger fulfils the function of satiating one’s hunger, making it the most valuable item Slowik serves any of his guests over the other pretentious dishes—even though the dish looks out of place at an exotic and elite restaurant like Hawthorne. Similar to how Erin challenges the pretence of the chef, the cuisine, and other patrons by insisting on a cheeseburger to sate her hunger, Erin is Slowik’s most important customer. Erin establishes herself as a regular customer in front of Slowik by placing a regular order, which persuades the chef that she isn’t one of the snobbish crowd.
Erin is rewarded for being a patron who is honest with both herself and her chef by being rescued from the restaurant and Slowik’s murderous scheme. She explains what she wants to eat without any pretence or hidden agendas, and she makes Slowik work for it as a client should. For one last chance to be an artist who produces significant artwork that satisfies Erin’s yearning, he allows her to leave the island.
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