Don't Make a Scene: Ratatouille

The Story: Movies are relegated to sight and sound. 

 

Oh. And imagination, don't forget that.

Some film entrepreneurs have tried to add other senses—enhance the sight with 3-D, enhance the sound with stereo, then 8-channel surround (even "Sensurround" which delivered a rumbling low-end seat-rattling super-woofer to the experience). One inventor (with his nose, no doubt, to the grindstone) created "Smell-o-vision" releasing scents into the theater triggered by the soundtrack.

But, taste? Not so much. In fact, among the intelligentsia there was the opinion that movie-theaters was the one place where taste was non-existent.

But, not to the wizards at Pixar. One of the many glories of their film Ratatouille is their attempt to simulate "taste" with sight and sound and music. To accomplish this, they outsourced the graphic representations of "taste" to artist Michel Gagné, who included everything but Rob Reiner's mother saying "I'll have what he's having..." at the end of it. It was bold, experimental, and effective—if not exactly precisely provoking the drool response (that would come with the team's enhanced representations of food).

By the way, there is a term for the way one sense can provoke another entirely different sense: synesthesia.

It would seem that has been the ultimate goal of Pixar all along.

 

The Set-Up: Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt) is a rat in rural France. But, he's a rat with a difference. He has taste. A refined taste. A taste that doesn't settle for the garbage (literally) that the thousands of other rats of his community regularly consume. So, rather than foraging in the back-alleys and receptacles regularly sought by rats, he goes to where the food is fresh and best.

 

Action.

 

REMY (V.O.) I know I’m supposed to hate humans. 

REMY (V.O.) But... 

Ext. OUTSIDE THE FARMHOUSE - DUSK

REMY (V.O.) ...there’s something about them --
Remy watches the farmhouse, drawn to the warm light and the sounds emanating from inside.

REMY (V.O., CONT’) -- they don’t just survive, 

Int. FARMHOUSE - KITCHEN Remy carefully sneaks into the kitchen. 

REMY (V.O., CONT’) -- they discover, 

REMY (V.O., CONT’) they create. 

REMY (V.O., CONT’) Just look at what they do... 

REMY (V.O., CONT’) ...with food. 

The TV is tuned to the same show we saw in the opening. CHEF GUSTEAU is cooking, speaking to the camera. Remy watches.

GUSTEAU (ON T.V.) How can I describe it?

GUSTEAU (ON T.V.) Good food... 

GUSTEAU (ON T.V.) ...is like music you can taste, 

GUSTEAU (ON T.V.) ...color you can smell. 

GUSTEAU (ON T.V.) There is excellence all around you. 

GUSTEAU (ON T.V.) You need only be aware to stop and savor it. 

Remy notices a leftover plate of FRUITS & CHEESES. 

He picks up a small slice of cheese...

...and takes a bite. 

REMY (V.O.) Gusteau was right. 

REMY (V.O.) Each flavor was totally unique. 

As Remy closes his eyes his surroundings FADE TO BLACK. A amorphus COLORED SHAPE appears above his head accompanied by a cello bass line. 

REMY (V.O., CONT’) Oh, yeah. 

REMY (V.O., CONT’) Amazing. 

REMY (V.O., CONT’) But... 

REMY (V.O., CONT’) combine one flavor with another -- 

Cheese still in his mouth, Remy takes a bite of the STRAWBERRY. 

REMY -- and something new was created. 

New COLORED SHAPES and musical signatures appear; 

swirling and dancing in harmony with the others. 

 

A light SNAPS ON, breaking the spell. 

The OLD LADY has awakened. 

Remy drops the food and scampers away.

Ratatouille

 

Words by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird, Emily Cook, Kathy Greenberg, and Bob Peterson.

 

Pictures by The Animation Department at Pixar and Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava.

 

Ratatouille is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Buena Vista Home Video.