Eden is a story of friendship and love that blooms between a lonely world-class chef and a waitress whose family life is less than ideal. The two meet as the Gregor (the chef) begins to frequent the café in which Eden (the waitress) works. After a few encounters Gregor learns that Eden's daughter Leonie is having a birthday. Gregor makes Leonie a cake and it's a small taste of this gift that lures Eden further into Gregor's life. Eden begins to visit Gregor weekly at his restaurant where their friendship blossoms. At first the relationship benefits both as Gregor's recipes influence Eden's home life and Eden's presence inspires Gregor's cooking. I don't think to call their friendship a love affair is a stretch. Charlotte Roche and Josef Ostendorf put in strong performances in the main roles. Ostendorf especially puts forth an emotional performance and as wonderful as Roche is, it is Ostendorf who carries the movie. I didn't know much about the film going in but I am glad to have spent the time to watch it.
6 Reviews
another kind of cracked actress in a beautiful movie!
Ralfscheapthrill20 November 2006
On of Germany's bravest filmmakers did it once again. "Eden" is a film with a cast, with a camera, with a sound like never before. Wee see a very fat genius of a cook and a quite lonesome mother. She falls in love with the cook's... art. A tricky relationship, intensely captured with a lot of close ups, painful, funny, it celebrates the beauty of life in a way you won't expect. And you won't expect the brilliant former Music-TV-Legend Charlotte Roche to give a perfect performance in her first leading role. In fact it's a pain to see her, pretending to be a waitress in the first minutes of the film. You don't believe a word. You feel high stakes and great pressure but if you're patient she'll convince you the more she gets quiet, the more she's herself (or the way we know her way of talking from TV-shows and fabulous interviews). You'll be irritated, maybe disappointed at first, but she gives you precious looks which you have never seen before on screen. She's of course not the "cracked actor" David Bowie sung about, in fact, she's not an actress (yet?) BUT it's a hard part, just to BE in front of a camera, it's a rare beauty to see people thinking and feeling on a screen. And you can see her thinking, feeling in "Eden". She's the "Cracked Actor" in Leonard Cohen's sense who once wrote "There's a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in". Charlotte Roche is the crack in "Eden". After "Sophieee!", Hofmann's radical film about panic, this is an intense work about different shades of happiness and joy. Thanks so much for having the courage to fail, this movie didn't fail at all.
The erotic cook
jotix1006 August 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Gregor, an enigmatic man with an overweight problem, has not had an easy life. From a young age, he was always treated with scorn as his appetite was something that interfered in his relations with others. One thing he knows is food. He is the star chef who cooks for a small select group that go into ecstasy every time they get a chance to occupy one of the three tables at his home that serve as his show place.
The encounter with Eden, a married waitress at a café in a park area, will change his life, as well as hers. Eden, married to a man that has not amounted to much and who serves as a dancing instructor to seniors that gather at the park, is not keen to the warning Gregor offers that she is about to be gypped out of payment from the four youths that ordered beer. Eden has a small child, Leoni, who is attracted to the kind Gregor.
When Gregor decides to make a gourmet cake as a birthday gift to the child, disaster happens as the furious relatives gang on the cook for intruding. One thing does happen though, Eden bites into the rich chocolate of the cake on the sly and is instantly conquered by what Gregor has created. The problem is Eden can't get enough of what Gregor cooks. This translates into a better time in bed with her own husband.
Michael Hofmann, the fine director of "Eden". has created an interesting story about how a kind, but rejected member of our society can bring happiness to another human being and in doing so, getting to be hated for the transformation he does to a woman who has been completely bowled over by that person.
The best in the film is the work of Josef Ostendorf and Charlotte Roche who are seen as Gregor and Eden, respectively. Mr. Ostendorf, is immensely appealing as the man with a great heart that is rejected by the society around him because of his corpulence. Ms. Roche does justice to Eden, the woman who brings the best in Gregor.
An enjoyable film for lovers of the fine cuisine cooked for us by director Michael Hofmann.
The encounter with Eden, a married waitress at a café in a park area, will change his life, as well as hers. Eden, married to a man that has not amounted to much and who serves as a dancing instructor to seniors that gather at the park, is not keen to the warning Gregor offers that she is about to be gypped out of payment from the four youths that ordered beer. Eden has a small child, Leoni, who is attracted to the kind Gregor.
When Gregor decides to make a gourmet cake as a birthday gift to the child, disaster happens as the furious relatives gang on the cook for intruding. One thing does happen though, Eden bites into the rich chocolate of the cake on the sly and is instantly conquered by what Gregor has created. The problem is Eden can't get enough of what Gregor cooks. This translates into a better time in bed with her own husband.
Michael Hofmann, the fine director of "Eden". has created an interesting story about how a kind, but rejected member of our society can bring happiness to another human being and in doing so, getting to be hated for the transformation he does to a woman who has been completely bowled over by that person.
The best in the film is the work of Josef Ostendorf and Charlotte Roche who are seen as Gregor and Eden, respectively. Mr. Ostendorf, is immensely appealing as the man with a great heart that is rejected by the society around him because of his corpulence. Ms. Roche does justice to Eden, the woman who brings the best in Gregor.
An enjoyable film for lovers of the fine cuisine cooked for us by director Michael Hofmann.
Master Chef
ell198115 November 2012
A delightful film well shot and paced. It maintained my attention throughout and the tension was subtle reminding me of the feel of The Page Turner. Anyone with a tiny bit of love for food will enjoy and understand the power of well cooked, prepared and thought about meals. All performances were convincing and added to the drama. At all times it's the love of food that keeps the story going and indeed makes the film so worthwhile and unique. It's a shame this film has gone under the radar and really deserved more credit but without a known name was always destined to remain unknown though I would hope had an impact in the home of gourmet food. The two leads had an amazing chemistry-I'm guessing helped by the amount of food they get to eat! Must watch.
I may be slightly biased, but I thought it was good
Horst_In_Translation15 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"Eden" is a German 100-minute movie from 2006, so this one had its 10th anniversary last year and this is the third full feature film by writer and director Michael Hofmann and it is a definite contender for his most known. Interestingly enough, his second is also just the name of the female protagonist like for this one here as well, even if Gregor (played competently by what can be seen as Josef Ostendorf's career-defining performance) may even be a bit more in the center than the title character. The latter is played by Charlotte Roche, who is mostly known for her hosting and writing in Germany, but with this one here, she can be seen as a solid actress too. The biggest supporting performance comes from the prolific Devid Striesow and he plays the title character's husband who is maybe even worse off than Gregor because even if he is not a loner and somewhat integrated in society, nobody respects him one bit. There is a scene when his own dad pulls beer all over him in a scene that looks as if he would urinate right on his son's face and even if that wasn't the case, this is what it may have looked like to Xaver. So yeah, he really is a tragic figure, not just because of what happens to him at the end, but also because he has no talent like Gregor for example to impress his wife with.
All in all, this was a really good character study. The script was interesting enough, has some solid love to detail and breathes life into the two protagonists, so you really care about what happens to them. Being a bit of a Roche fan, I may be biased like I wrote in the title of this review, but I think it is a bit of a shame she really almost never acts in anything. She mostly hit the right notes here and it was a very subtle, very calm turn that fits the character nicely for sure. Truly likable in my opinion. And then there is the food component. This is without a doubt a film that will get you hungry as many delicacies are involved and shown. Nom nom nom. I recently saw another film about food and the enjoyment it can bring us, starring Jessica Schwarz, and sadly that one came short in all the departments where this one here delivers. So yeah I believe you really wanna give it a go. It's smart, insightful and touching at times. It's maybe not really great from any perspective or best-of-the-year material, but it is a very human work. Go check it out if you manage to get a hand on it.
All in all, this was a really good character study. The script was interesting enough, has some solid love to detail and breathes life into the two protagonists, so you really care about what happens to them. Being a bit of a Roche fan, I may be biased like I wrote in the title of this review, but I think it is a bit of a shame she really almost never acts in anything. She mostly hit the right notes here and it was a very subtle, very calm turn that fits the character nicely for sure. Truly likable in my opinion. And then there is the food component. This is without a doubt a film that will get you hungry as many delicacies are involved and shown. Nom nom nom. I recently saw another film about food and the enjoyment it can bring us, starring Jessica Schwarz, and sadly that one came short in all the departments where this one here delivers. So yeah I believe you really wanna give it a go. It's smart, insightful and touching at times. It's maybe not really great from any perspective or best-of-the-year material, but it is a very human work. Go check it out if you manage to get a hand on it.
A real little find
krwrawlings3219 February 2017
Warning: Spoilers
As a person of limited means I spend an awful lot of my spare time hunting around local charity shops looking for off-beat and different DVDs to add to my collection. 90% of the time all I find is the usual generic horror movies, cheapo action movies and a whole load of 'straight to video' nonsense. Once in a while I will find a decent newish release which I missed at the cinema, and even more rarely I come across a really good independent/foreign language movie. What is even rarer - maybe once or twice a year - I come across a real gem, a film which totally passed me by but which turns out to be one that has me sat in my comfty seat at home going "wow! What a wonderful film that was...!" Eden is one of these hidden gems!
I picked it up because of its minimal cover (a chocolate cover strawberry) and some glowing reviews on the back. I had no prior knowledge of the director, or the stars, and had no idea what to expect as this beautifully judged, unusual 'buddy' movie (for want of a better term - off-beat love story, or food faddie movie does not do it justice! unfolded. The relationship between Eden (the wonderful Charlotte Roche), her disabled daughter Leonie (beautifully played by Leonie Stepp) and the self-styled fat chef - the quite remarkable Josef Ostendorf - is handled with a wonderfully deft hand by director Michael Hofmann, and the way this relationship impacts on Eden's marriage to Xavier - a performance that goes from delight to despair by Devid Striestow is quite stunning. The film shows how even the most innocent relationship can have consequences beyond its own boundaries.
To have found this little gem of a movie for a mere £1 of my limited funds is, like this film, remarkable and oh-so pleasing!
I picked it up because of its minimal cover (a chocolate cover strawberry) and some glowing reviews on the back. I had no prior knowledge of the director, or the stars, and had no idea what to expect as this beautifully judged, unusual 'buddy' movie (for want of a better term - off-beat love story, or food faddie movie does not do it justice! unfolded. The relationship between Eden (the wonderful Charlotte Roche), her disabled daughter Leonie (beautifully played by Leonie Stepp) and the self-styled fat chef - the quite remarkable Josef Ostendorf - is handled with a wonderfully deft hand by director Michael Hofmann, and the way this relationship impacts on Eden's marriage to Xavier - a performance that goes from delight to despair by Devid Striestow is quite stunning. The film shows how even the most innocent relationship can have consequences beyond its own boundaries.
To have found this little gem of a movie for a mere £1 of my limited funds is, like this film, remarkable and oh-so pleasing!
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