Week 3 - Mostly Martha

The themes of love and romance are represented in many ways in the film “Mostly Martha”. Martha’s sister unfortunately passes away so she decides to take in her 8 year old niece, Lina. She shows her niece love and by taking her in she learns to be more gentle with other people and the way that she treats them every day. Love and romance are also represented in the romantic relationship that she forms with Mario. He is a chef that comes in to the restaurant to replace Martha’s previous sous-chef, Lea, who is having a baby soon. Mario is very fun loving and he turns Martha’s kitchen into a relaxed place instead of having the preciseness that was there before. Even though Martha originally does not want to form a romantic relationship with Mario, she eventually does. Having Mario in the kitchen actually turns out to be a good thing for Martha because he helps Lina come out of her depression and because of this Martha becomes more accepting of him. As for the role of food in this film, it means everything to the characters. One example of this would be when Mario comes over to make a picnic style dinner for Martha and Lina. The three of them have a great time throughout the evening and while there is a mess at the end, the food that they shared caused the three characters to grow closer. As with any film about food, this one has a lot of focus on the kitchen itself and the way that all of the food is being prepared. I enjoyed the fact that by the end of the film, Mario and Martha get married. None of this would have happened if he never had the personality that he did in Martha’s kitchen.