Final Rating: 4/5
At the start of Grand Maison Paris – a sequel film to the series Grand Maison Tokyo, directed by Ayuko Tsukahara – celebrity chef Natsuki Obana (Takuya Nimura) has just received word that his restaurant in Paris has been awarded 2 Michelin stars. While that may sound impressive, Obana’s patron, the legendary chef Louis Blancan (Patrick Descamps), is disappointed.
When Blancan informs Obana that he will be evicting him to make room for his son Pascal’s restaurant instead, Obana makes one final plea to keep the Grand Maison Paris in business: get the third Michelin star and earn his place in French gastronomy, or leave France.
From the start, Grand Maison Paris presents tense drama. Within the first half hour, Obana is forced to compensate for a lack of essential ingredients, fights with his sous chef and pâtissier, and given an ultimatum by his patron. Being a cooking-based melodrama, the tension only rises once Obana and his crew step into the kitchen. Obana’s passion for cooking goes hand in hand with an obsessive perfectionism, a combination which is naturally corrosive to relationships, professionalism, and ultimately his reputation.
Nimura plays Obana as a demanding taskmaster. It’s clear Obana loves what he does, but his passion is not infectious. Instead, his determination makes him almost a recluse. Early on, Obana determines that the only way to achieve his goal is by diving headfirst into traditional French cuisine. On more than one occasion, he has people remake finished items after simply stepping out of line with his plan. By the end, however, Obana mellows, and begins encouraging his crew to bring in their own experiences.
Opposing Obana is Pascal, the son of the illustrious chef Blancan, played by Yannick Renier. Renier’s performance as Pascal is incredible, often stealing scenes from even Nimura. Pascal is a despicable character. Though an enormously talented chef, Pascal is terminally insecure about his position in French gastronomy, leaning so hard on his father’s reputation that his actions repeatedly threaten to topple it. Pascal’s big monologue concerns the necessity of French cuisine to constantly reinvent itself. And yet this monologue is delivered to a Japanese man with clear undertones of contempt, Pascal implicitly attempting to drag down any cuisine which is not French while praising his own art as open and inclusive.
Outside of his talent in his father’s kitchen, Pascal is all talk. A narrow-minded nepo-baby with little respect for anyone who isn’t. And while Pascal is a narrow-minded individual, the scene around him isn’t welcoming, either. Obana and his crew regularly face anti-Asian racism in the heart of France. The Grand Maison’s biggest problem is the lack of high-quality ingredients. Even after months of buying from the same vendors, Obana is regularly met with skepticism from suppliers on whether they really want to sell their best ingredients to someone who isn’t “from here”.
In one heartbreaking scene, Obana has determined the Grand Maison should acquire an exclusive caviar and build a signature dish around it. After a meeting with the caviar supplier, in which Obana prepares the signature dish to the delight of the representative, he is told that he will not be getting the caviar deal. “Do you think a Frenchman in Japan would get the best tuna?” the salesman tells him in explanation. Obviously, the answer doesn’t matter. The question itself tells him all he needs to know.
In any film about cooking, it’s important to show mouthwatering food, and in this, Grand Maison Paris delivers. The filmmakers collaborated with Kei Kobayashi, chef and owner of Parisian restaurant Kei – not coincidentally the first Japanese chef to earn three Michelin stars in Paris. Between unique takes of desserts, meat dishes, and even a salad one of the chefs in the film hails as “revolutionary,” Grand Maison Paris could easily function as an advertisement for the restaurant. The food not only looks delicious, but gorgeous. When possible, slow-mo is used to highlight the techniques that go into the presentation of the food. And of course, each dish is explained in detail before, during, and after its creation, building anticipation for the reveal.
Grand Maison Paris is a sequel to a series, but it stands well on its own. The characters feel complete, and the themes of determination and community overcoming hate feel timeless, but also salient in the wake of COVID-19.
Grand Maison Paris was seen during the 2025 Toronto Japanese Film Festival.
