Frederick Wiseman’s last work “Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros” is another extraordinary documentary to admire and cherish. Just like Wiseman’s many other works, the documentary simply observes and listens without any interview or music or narration, but we somehow sense and understand its big, interesting picture bit by bit, and the result is an utterly ample full-course meal for our eyes and mind.

The main subject of the documentary is the Troisgros family’s Michelin 3-star restaurant “Le Bois sans feuilles” (It means “The Woods Without Leaves” in French, by the way), which is located in some rural town of France. At the beginning, we see several people from the restaurant purchasing some vegetables and herbs early in the morning, and this will certainly remind you again of that undeniable importance of good and fresh ingredients in fine cooking.

And then we see the patriarch of the Troisgros family, Michel Troisgros, and his two sons, César and Léo, discussing on their business at one of the two other restaurants belonging to them. At one point, they discuss a lot on how to make a certain dish on their menu, and you will listen to their serious discussion more even if you do not know anything about cooking (FULL DISCLOSURE: I don’t, except making fried/boiled eggs or instant noodle).

The documentary becomes more interesting as observing how things get started at Le Bois sans feuilles. As Michel tells one of his customers around the end of the documentary, the restaurant was actually moved to a new location outside the town several years ago, and the documentary often emphasizes the pastorally tranquil rural atmosphere, which makes an interesting contrast with the slick modern interior design of the restaurant.

The kitchen of the restaurant is an impressively wide and open space. As often led or guided by Michel and César, a bunch of chefs busily prepare for cooking all those dishes to be served to a bunch of various customers, and it is certainly fascinating to see how they carefully prepare each of those cooking ingredients step by step. I was particularly amused a bit by when lamb brains are prepared, and it is a bit shame that the documentary does not show much of how frogs are prepared and then cooked, though frog dishes are frequently ordered throughout the documentary.

Meanwhile, the waiting staff members of the restaurant also prepare a lot before their customers arrive. We see an employee carefully and meticulously setting each table at the restaurant. We see the head of the staff giving all the necessary information about their customers, such as food preference or allergy problems. And we soon see how each of the waiting staff members deftly handling many orders from the customers, who all expect to have a finest dining experience in one way or another.

Of course, the mood becomes all the busier in the kitchen as more orders come, but everything is mostly under control under the confident leadership of Michel and César. We never see them raising their voice at all, and it is clear that they have a lot of trust on their dependable kitchen staff members. Yes, there sometimes come a few big mistakes, but Michel regards them as opportunities for learning more, and there is a little funny moment when he has one of the kitchen staff members check on two old but reliable cookbooks after this young man makes a minor mistake in handling lamb’s brains.

After showing a lot about how the restaurant works during its first half, the documentary expands its view a bit during the second half. For the quality control of their cooking ingredients, Michel and his two sons certainly pay a lot of attention to a number of various farms which have been their main providers for a long time, and we often watch them attentively listening to their providers explaining or showing how the quality of their commodities has been maintained as well as possible. As a result, we get to know more about how important various cooking ingredients ranging from cheese to wine really are for first-class fine dining, and I especially enjoyed the scene showing a big facility where many different kinds of cheese are stored and then fermented for days or months. As its manager enthusiastically explains more, I observed the process in the facility with more interest, and I was amused a bit when the documentary later went back to the restaurant and showed a cart full of various kinds of cheese again.

While mostly remaining objective and unobtrusive, the documentary also sometimes focuses on the small but revealing human moments observed from Michel and his restaurant staff members. While being a very respectable master chef at the top of his game, Michel often enjoys having a casual conversation with some of his customers, who are all delighted to spend some time with him. He and his wife and children are all dedicated to their family business with a lot of genuine affection and pride, and his two sons are already ready to go each own way – especially after he handed his leadership to César.

Overall, “Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros” is quite a pleasure to watch despite its 4-hour running time, and this is surely a splendid finishing touch to the long and illustrious career of Wiseman, who sadly passed away early in this year at the age of 96. Although it is a shame that there will not be another work from him, this legendary documentary filmmaker left us a heap of memorable works ranging from “Titicut Follies” (1967) to “City Hall” (2020), and they and “Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros” will continue to impress and fascinate us as long as cinema is alive and well.

Sidenote: The French term “menus-plaisirs” literally means “minor pleasures”. and also puns on “menu”.