BELLA MARTHA

 

Sandra Nettelbeck
Germany 2001
 

106 min, 35mm, Colour

in German

with English subtitles
 

www.BellaMartha.de
 

12 Oct 2002,

Opening Gala: $360
Hong Kong Academy for
Performing Arts

1 Gloucester Rd, Wanchai

Martha, in her own obsessive but charming way, creates sublime masterpieces in the art of cooking as a chef of a French gourmet restaurant in Hamburg.

 

And yet, her everyday existence is rather monotonous. She is introverted, has hardly any private life, and exists only for her work. All of that changes when her sister, a single mother, dies in an accident and Martha has to take in her eight-year-old niece Lina.

 

The little girl suffers badly from the loss of her mother. It is only the presence of Mario, Martha's new Italian sous-chef who brings light and pasta into the lives of the two outsiders. He turns from a rival into a loving friend.

 

Just as a tender romance develops between them, Lina's unknown father appears. He wants to take Lina back with him to Italy. Martha has to make a decision.