Blog Entry 3

In Sandra Nettelbeck's Mostly Martha, love and romance are represented through food and recipes. The films main character, Martha, works as a chef in Hamburg, Germany at a restaurant called Lido. Martha is a closed off woman, who sticks to routine and likes order, despite being desperately lonely. She's seen reaching out to the people around her, her new neighbor and her sister, asking to cook for them. Cooking is seemingly all she knows. Where her skills lack in socializing, they soar in the kitchen. When tragedy strikes, Martha is left in charge of her 8 year old niece, Lina, who's mom was killed in a car crash. The relationship between Martha and Lina starts off strained. Despite being basically the same person, Martha and Lina don't know how to interact with each other. Martha only knows recipes, so she tries to map out blueprints for her relationships as well. She constantly tries to connect with Lina through food, while sort of failing in the other parenting areas. Martha is constantly late and even forgets Lina at school once. Eventually, Martha realizes there's no food recipe when it comes to parenting Lina, but there may be a blueprint. Martha wants someone to love and take care of, and Lina wants someone to love her and take care of her.
At the same time, Martha meets Mario, a new chef hired at Lido. The relationship between the 2 of them starts out icy, but slowly starts to blossom. Mario also starts to form a friendship with Lina, and eventually comes over to cook for them, and one time cooks for Martha personally. There's a scene between Martha and Mario where Martha is blindfolded while Mario feeds her soup he made, and they eventually kiss. It's a delicate scene, and proves that in Mostly Martha, food represents connection.

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