Toast (2010)

Directed by: SJ Clarkson | 96 minutes | drama, comedy | Actors: Freddie Highmore, Victoria Hamilton, Colin Prockter, Ken Stott, Oscar Kennedy, Matthew McNulty, Frasier Huckle, Kia Pegg, Rielly Newbold, Roger Walker, Rob Jarvis, Amy Marston, Helena Bonham Carter, Selina Cadell, Louise Mardenborough, Corrinne Wicks , Marion Bailey, Tracey Wilkinson, Clare Higgins, Ben Aldridge, Sarah Middleton, Nigel Slater

In Britain, Nigel Slater is a phenomenon. After learning his trade in the kitchen of several top restaurants, he started a culinary column in Marie Claire magazine. This was followed by a regular contribution in ‘The Observer’. His cookbooks full of uncomplicated recipes appealed to a large audience. Since 1998, the culinary journalist has appeared on British TV with his own programs. In 2004 his autobiography ‘Toast: The Story of a Boy’s Hunger’ was published, in which he not only shares his love for good food with the reader, but also looks back on his turbulent childhood full of drama. His mother died when he was nine years old, his father remarried to a woman he didn’t like, and young Nigel had to deal with his own sexuality. The biography became a bestseller in the UK and won several literary awards. A film adaptation, in typical dull seventies tones, was therefore inevitable.

The movie ‘Toast’ (2010) was directed by SJ Clarkson. Young Nigel (Oscar Kennedy) grows up in the middle class of the English Midlands. He has been fascinated by food from an early age. He doesn’t learn much from his sweet but vulnerable mother (Victoria Hamilton); she could even burn water. Her best dish? Toast! Nigel’s mother struggles with her severe asthma, which will eventually kill her. After her death, the relationship between Nigel and his overbearing father (Ken Stott) does not improve. Especially not when he meets the raunchy, chain-smoking housekeeper Mrs. Potter (Helena Bonham Carter) into your home. Nigel turns his nose up at her. But cook she can! Her lemon meringue pie is especially delicious. When his father tells him that he and Mrs. Potter have fallen in love (she’s married too) and the three of them move to rural (and remote) Herefordshire, Nigel (played by Freddie Highmore as a teenager) sees his world crumble. Especially when he’s with Mrs. Potter must compete for the attention and love of his ever-growing father…

Slater’s life story offers enough leads for an entertaining film. In addition to the complex family relationships, there is also his burgeoning homosexuality. Surprisingly enough, the film does this quite lightly. As a nine-year-old, Nigel is attracted to the muscular young gardener, high school classmates laugh at him because he is the only boy to choose home economics as an exam subject – that’s all. The kiss with a fellow apprentice chef comes completely out of the blue. The moments when Nigel’s sexuality develops are very random and do not have enough ‘body’. Clarkson pays more attention to the complicated relationships within the Slater family. Young Nigel visibly tries his best to show his father in a good light, but barely succeeds. All the more poignant is the one moment when the two actually come together – after Nigel’s mother dies. It is one of the few moments in which the film goes into depth, because otherwise they keep it light as a meringue.

Fortunately, there are strong actors who keep the film afloat. Although the clearly older Freddie Highmore (‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, 2005) has more experience, it is the young Oscar Kennedy who manages to play the most convincing Nigel. Even though he behaves – especially after Mrs. Potter has made her way into his life – an occasional snobbish bastard. Ken Stott and Victoria Hamilton are reliable as ever, but it’s the always delightfully eccentric Helena Bonham Carter who really knows how to make her mark on ‘Toast’. She sinks her teeth into the folksy Mrs. Potter and don’t let go of the scroll. The household – and especially the kitchen – are her domain, she tolerates no competition there. And certainly not such a brat. The mischievous looks, the nimble stride – it may tend to be a caricature, but everything about it is right. That’s why it’s such a shame that ‘Toast’ goes out like a candle and leaves a bitter taste. The last fifteen minutes is rushed and the climax you are waiting for is not forthcoming. Since the story is based on Slater’s memoirs (who himself can still be seen in a cameo, as a restaurant owner), it will really have happened like that, but you expect a little more from a feature film.

‘Toast’ starts promisingly, with a beautiful opening sequence in which the young Nigel admires the packaging in a fascination in the supermarket (and the credits are playfully incorporated), but unfortunately this biographical film does not live up to expectations. Depth is lacking, the protagonist is not always sympathetic and the expected resounding final chord is not forthcoming. What remains is a film with a solid dose of British nostalgic charm (complete with the saccharine oeuvre of Dusty Springfield as a soundtrack) and a very solid cast, with Helena Bonham Carter on track as the undisputed highlight. The proverbial icing is there, only that cake is missing…