03/06/2002 - Sandra Nettelbeck's bows with Mostly Martha, a culinary love story

Sandra Nettelbeck makes her directorial debut with a culinary love affair between a German chef called... Martha (Martina Gedeck) and her easygoing Italian colleague Mario (Sergio Castellitto). This fusion of nouvelle cuisine and pasta was produced by Germany´s Pandora Film Produktion, Austria´s Prisma Film, Switzerland´s T&C Film AG and Italy´s Palomar. Nettelbeck is a renowned television director in Germany and a past winner of the Max Ophüls best screenplay award for Mamma Mia
Martha communicates with the outside world through her cooking and learns the importance of not taking oneself, or life, too seriously from Mario. Inevitably they fall in love and Martha´s newfound happiness reflects positively also on the life of her niece, Lina, the orphaned daughter of Martha´s sister. «Communication takes place through food because I believe that food is an important means of communicating. In my family, the love we feel or the arguments we have all come to the fore when we sit down at the table,» said Nettelbeck who also wrote the screenplay of this largely autobiographical story. «Martha and I share a love of art. Directing and cooking are arts, distinguished only by time employed. Unlike films, you see the results of what you´ve cooked immediately. All the same both Martha and I know exactly what it means to fight with people who don´t understand where we´re coming from. Not only, we communicate with the outside world exclusively by means of our respective art.»
In a nutshell, Mostly Martha (Bella Martha) is reminiscent of Garry Marshall´s Frankie & Johnny starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino with shades of Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott´s Big Night.

(Translated from Italian)