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Toast (film)
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Wikipedia article
'Toast' is a British biographical comedy-drama film written and directed by S. J. Clarkson, it is based on the autobiographical novel of the same name by the cookery writer Nigel Slater. The cast includes Freddie Highmore, Helena Bonham Carter, Ken Stott and Oscar Kennedy.
It received a gala at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival. As a television film it was first broadcast on BBC One on 30 December 2010 and was given a theatrical release in cinemas on 11 August 2011.
In 2018, it was adapted for stage by Henry Filloux-Bennett. It first premiered at Week 53 Festival in March with a subsequent run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In April 2019, it opened in London at The Other Palace.
Plot
The Slaters of Wolverhampton are plagued with Mrs. Slater's chronic debilitating asthma and her cooking being limited to heating canned goods in boiling water. Mr. Alan Slater is sick with worry and has a cantankerous personality. Nigel longs for a life that is more than a succession of canned-food dinners made from what can be heated in boiling water. When dinner is burnt, the standard substitute of toast is always served. He loves toast, with the crunchy outside giving way to buttery softness inside. Despite her infrequent forays into cooking meals from scratch, his mother's attempts to improve her cooking change nothing before or after her death. His father continues in widowhood with the same cooking style and frequent dinners of toast. The experience brings Nigel to conclude that he is not liked. Nigel learns from a friend that the way in which he could attempt a better relationship with his father is to cook a meal for him.
His cooking efforts are thwarted by the new housekeeper, the married and "common" Mrs. Joan Potter, who seduces Alan with her apple pie and array of gourmet meals. The two start to spend time together: at one point, she exits her council house through an upstairs window so as not to be found out by her husband. Without announcement, the Slaters move to the Herefordshire countryside along with Mrs. Potter. Nigel co-exists with her but never accepts her. She makes a competition of cooking when the teenaged Nigel shows an emerging interest in developing his skills at school home economics class cookery lessons. Mrs. Potter's lemon meringue pie becomes Nigel's quest to learn the secret recipe.
Alan's cantankerous nature returns with the endless eating that must be done with Mrs. Potter's excessive cooking, although he intends to marry her. The second Mrs. Slater makes every attempt to thwart Nigel's efforts at cooking by having him quit a Saturday job at a pub restaurant. His departure from employment is not without benefit when, on a walk in the woods with the pub owner's son, who is training at ballet school, the two share a kiss, stirring Nigel's sexual awareness. He encourages Nigel to take a chance at the world despite being on his own.
Nigel, finding his father has died while he was at the pub, resolves to make off for London and bewilders Mrs. Potter when he declares that she has won and he wants her out of his life. At The Savoy Hotel, he is interviewed for a kitchen job by a toast snacking chef and hired, much to his disbelief. Nigel is reassured by the chef that he will make it. The chef has Nigel put on a chef's jacket embroidered with "Savoy London" and Nigel cracks a smile.
Cast
Production
The chief filming location was in Birmingham and Worcestershire with the Black Country Living Museum transformed into 1960's Wolverhampton, and in Walton Pool House in Clent. Principal sets were constructed in a disused bank on Broad St. The only inclement weather encountered during filming was at Penarth which resulted in script changes to reflect the cold wet conditions. Filming lasted 1 month, from 21 June to 24 July 2010.
Reviews
Writing for the Seattle Times, Tom Keogh gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, stating that "the movie has three things deserving of adoration: spectacular lemon-meringue pies, the songs of Dusty Springfield and Helena Bonham Carter". Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "'Toast' is by turns sweet and tart, airy and rich and, above all, a thoroughly irresistible confection", giving the movie 4 out of 5 stars. In a more mild review, Stephanie Merry of the Washington Post wrote: "For the most part, the movie feels like an emotional vacuum, mirroring the drab vanilla and mint green interiors of the Slaters' home".
'Toast' currently holds a 62% approval on Rotten Tomatoes.
References
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