Mostly Martha

Pleasantly engaging if rather conventional romantic drama which sees the title character Martha Klein (Gedeck) attempting to come to terms with her lonely existence. After her sister is killed in a road accident, Martha is deemed guardian of her eight-year-old niece Lina (Foerste) until the child's Italian father can be found. Utterly devoted to her work, restaurant chef Martha finds it difficult to relate to adults when the conversation strays beyond culinary matters, so the testy nipper presents an entirely new set of problems. And when a wildly charismatic Italian sous chef (Castellitto) is drafted in to help out in the restaurant, Martha believes it is only a matter of time before she is removed from the only place that she feels comfortable.

On the evidence of the above, Mostly Martha may not sound like a barrel of laughs, but this wry, gentle movie ambles along at a nice, unhurried pace and is surprisingly, considering the subject matter, almost entirely devoid of crass sentimentality. Admittedly, there's never any real doubt as to how things will pan out but Mostly Martha retains a light-hearted charm which is difficult not to warm to. Don't be surprised if you're starving afterwards, such is the mouth-watering selection of culinary delights on display. Nice score, too.