Fonz's Favorite Frames: "The Menu"

Hey what’s up, it’s Alfonso on Ask The Fonz! In today’s blog, I’ll be going over my favorite edited scene in Mark Mylod’s film, The Menu, edited by Christopher Tellefsen. Before I get started, please make sure to watch the film because there will be spoilers in my review. I’ll give context and supporting story evidence to back up Christopher’s editing choices so it’s important to watch the film to fully understand my points (and if you don’t want it to be spoiled).

So without further ado, my favorited edited scene in The Menu is…

The Cheeseburger Scene.

Before I break it down, I’m going to share context for the scene, backstory, and the reason why I felt like this was the strongest edited scene in this film. This was the turning point of the entire film, the “reveal” moment where we realized what Chef Slowik’s “Menu” was all about. He hated the fact that the wealthy were the cause of the “fine dining”, foodie culture, the pretentious or elitist experience we have in restaurants today. His passion for cooking eroded because of this. His repressed hatred is shown through his dishes that he serves, to his carefully selected wealthy (and shallow) clientele. It was at this moment where Margot (played by Anya Taylor-Joy), a girlfriend experience worker, gets mistakenly caught up in this planned execution of elites. However, she quickly notices that all he wants is to feel that satisfaction of making a customer happy with his food without dealing with snobs or elites. Just a pure chef to customer transaction of making one happy through his art of cooking. She finds this out through a series of old photos of him making a cheeseburger framed in his living quarters.

Keep this in mind as you watch this scene because Editor Christopher Tellefsen’s editing choices are motivated by this.

This scene shows the moment where someone finally understood the meaning behind the “menu”. Chef Slowik is finally “seen” for what he wants to be seen as and is given a moment to experience that feeling again - the feeling that made him want to become a chef. It’s pure bliss. That pureness of making food for someone to enjoy without all the snobs involved! In this case, it’s a cheeseburger, a simple yet artful dish that he creates for Margot to enjoy. And that’s why she is also allowed to leave. She’s given him the two minutes of what he’s been craving for again - his passion to cook. Take a look at the scene below and we’ll go over the way Editor Christopher Tellefsen successfully edits this climactic scene to the audience.

The Performances.

Why I loved this scene for editing is because of what Editor Christopher Tellefsen did so well in this scene - he was pinpoint accurate in picking the correct performances. Let’s start with Chef Slowik. Played by Ralph Fiennes, this was the only two minutes in the entire film (and maybe in the last 20 years of his life) where we see Chef Slowik happy. From the moment Margot orders the burger, his eyes widen because he’s finally seen. Seen for what he loves doing the most without any snobbish protocols that elites expect when they go out for “fine dining”. We see this exact emotion from his eyes and smile while he’s cooking the burger, specifically when he melts the cheese over the double patties - his smile and pureness radiate his love for cooking, the reason why he became a chef. I love how Editor Tellefsen also chose a performance that truly embodied Chef Slowik’s personality. Meaning, it was a mixture of a smile and stoicism. It was happiness amidst his traumatic and dark past. He has gone through a lot in life which has made him cold hearted and for just one moment, he flashes a smile. Now that’s doing your homework. Editor Tellefsen did a great job recognizing that in Ralph’s performances and successfully brought out the meaning in that look.

I’d venture to guess that Ralph had several other takes that slightly showed a different reaction which could have also changed the meaning of how we perceived this as the audience. Let’s say Editor Tellefsen chose a more “happier” performance throughout or a more subdued performance, it simply wouldn’t work as well because there’s this beautiful balance and chemistry with the shots that he chose. We felt as an audience that we were seeing something special and we knew it was something special because we’ve never seen that side of Chef Slowik before, albeit for only a quick look.

These shot selections and editing decisions are not easy and that’s why I love this scene for editing. It’s filled with complicated nuances and difficult decisions that require you to look past the external character and focus in on their internal struggle.

And just as important, Anya Taylor-Joy’s performance was crucial in successfully achieving the second part of the equation to Ralph Fiennes’ performance. If you rewatch the scene, Editor Tellefsen holds as long as he can on Margot eating the cheeseburger. He does this because he wants to build suspense and anticipation. All the way up from serving it, to Margot taking a bite of it, and ending with her saying "Now that’s a cheeseburger” is honestly my favorite part of this entire movie. Because good solid editing was the reason why it works so well.

Similarly to how pinpoint accurate Chef Slowik’s performances needed to be, Editor Tellefsen needed the right performances from Margot to properly deliver our story’s climax. Margot’s motive in this scene was unlocking Chef Slowik’s passion again and finding a way to escape this planned execution. Because of how the events folded and she unexpectedly ran into Chef Slowik’s living quarters, she was intelligent enough to notice why Chef is acting this way and hosting this “menu”. The shot of her figuring this all out right before she claps to get everyone’s attention, we knew she had a plan.

What’s interesting is that when I dig deeper into this, I have to ask, does Margot genuinely like the cheeseburger or is she acting? We know that she’s a girlfriend experience worker so she’s used to role playing a type of person to accommodate someone’s needs. I honestly do believe that she genuinely feels for Chef Slowik though and loves the cheeseburger. Asking for it to go also proves that she really does enjoy it and wants to eat it later. I couldn’t help but think if Editor Tellefsen included this nuance in his character breakdown and shot selections when he was watching for her performances. What if she played it more cunningly or manipulative? Would it play the same? Would Chef Slowik know that she’s lying?

Regardless, this is the defining scene in this movie. This is the huge reveal, climatic moment and it’s done very well because of Editor Tellefsen’s choices in performances and edit patterns.

The Score Is Ethereal, Chef’s Kiss.

Without this score, this scene would flop, it’s as simple as that. That’s how important this score is to the story and film editing. Listen to the score from the moment Chef Slowik asks, “Crinkled Cut or Julienne?” It sounds like paradise, heaven, and passion all beautifully composed into one emotion and it fits perfectly with our story. It’s as if we time travelled back to the time when Chef Slowik fell in love with cooking. We can feel the “ethereal-ness” in the music that he was meant to do this for a living.

More importantly, the way that Editor Tellefsen let this scene breathe and build up with the music complementing (and not fighting) the story beats was excellent. Music or Scores can sometimes take us out of the story too much and can distract us from telling the story correctly but not here. This is an editing masterclass in letting a scene breathe and not rushing through everything when music is applied to it. Specifically watch the part when he’s cooking the burgers, he cuts to each moment of adding onions, cheese, flipping the burger, assembling it to its final form, even pushing it down to let all the savory juices flow! Our editor is not rushing us but carefully guiding us through this artistic process with the help of this ethereal score. He intercuts Chef’s cooking with reaction shots that help add more emotion to his edit. But the main part I want to focus on here is how Editor Tellefsen paced this scene using a score that heightened our emotions to give us a scene that makes you feel like we’re witnessing how the world’s greatest chef cooks one of the most well-crafted cheeseburgers ever made. And that’s all accomplished with the right score.

I’d argue and guess that finding the right score for this scene was the hardest part about assembling it. This was the biggest moment in the movie and it had to be perfectly composed, exuding the right emotions that we needed to feel when watching it. A job well done to their Film Composer, Colin Stetson. I’m sure there was a lot of collaboration and conversation with him when figuring out the right score for this moment.

But like I said before, editing this scene with the wrong score would’ve ultimately made the movie weak. I’d even go further and say that without this score, meaning if we didn’t even have a score and just played the scene dry, the scene would’ve flopped as well. That’s how important it is.

No Fancy Editing Unlike Other Scenes.

What’s interesting is that there are a lot of great scenes in this movie that actually are more “upfront” in how well the editing is. There was a scene when Mr. Leibrandt’s ring finger gets chopped off and there’s this beautiful edit from a close-up shot of his actual wedding ring collapsing into Tyler, the “know it all foodie”, cutting a piece of a white carrot, mimicking the finger getting sliced. It’s all horrific and seamlessly well-put together at the same time. There were several edits like this and I really enjoyed Editor Tellefsen’s creativity when putting them together.

But the reason why I chose this Cheeseburger Scene is because of how “invisible” the film editing is but yet when we break it down, we realize how much film editing there actually is. The film editing “work” is more focused on doing the homework and selecting the right performances, pacing the scene correctly, and finding the right score to help elevate our emotions. The scenes that don’t seem like there’s a lot of film editing “work” to it, are actually the more difficult scenes to edit believe it or not. And that’s why I chose it.

What I liked about the Cheeseburger Scene is that we didn’t need fancy editing to make us feel for our characters. The performances, well-paced edit pattern, and score did that all for us. The slow build-up to Margot eating the cheeseburger was what made this scene.

Pacing is Perfect.

If you want to learn pacing and hitting the right story beats, rewatch this scene. This is exactly why I chose this scene for editing. Pay attention to how this scene flows and breathes, it’s not rushed, and Editor Tellefsen holds on the most important shots. It’s as if he knows where to place us in the scene at all times. I always look out for that when I think about pacing. Where is the editor putting us in the action as the viewer, and how long is he keeping us at specific moments in the scene? Was it necessary or unnecessary to hold on this shot? What was the Editor’s intention when putting us through these series of shots? How did it make me feel? You can feel how perfectly edited this scene is just by the build up and how well everything played. Like I said before, it wasn’t rushed or too “cutty”, the edit took its time and allowed us to ingest the scene slowly and satisfyingly.

This isn’t easy to do. I would guess that this scene actually might have been longer in Editor Tellefsen’s initial cuts. He probably had more shots of the cheeseburger cooking, drawing out the cooking part a lot more. Why? Because this is Chef Slowik’s moment to be seen for who he is. This is him at its purest form. And I bet Editor Tellefsen wanted to prolong that and give us everything he could to show us how much happiness and blissfulness this gave Chef Slowik. I would love to see Editor Tellefsen’s first cut of this scene because I bet you, he had a more prolonged version of this scene, especially when Chef Slowik was making the cheeseburger.

Not only that, I enjoyed the back and forth between Chef Slowik and Margot once the cheeseburger was served. Editor Tellefsen found the right balance and chemistry that worked between them - it was equal parts Chef’s scene and Margot’s scene once she took a bite out of that cheeseburger. He gave them both the spotlight by editing in the right performances and finding the perfect reactions for them. They both fulfilled their character arc goals and it was through this scene that they both got what they wanted. It was the perfect climax to this story.

Let’s Put Ourselves In The Editor’s Seat.

Let’s now dive in to how Editor Tellefsen created this scene and what his thoughts/editing decisions might have been. Like I mentioned before, Editor Tellefsen must’ve have done his homework when figuring out what performances he needed in order for this scene to be successfully edited. He had to have broke down what Chef Slowik and Margot’s primary goals were in the movie, and specifically in this scene.

For Chef Slowik, Editor Tellefsen knew that this was Chef’s moment to be “seen”. He finally had a customer ask him for a meal without being subjected to the “fine dining” protocols. All he wants is to share his passion for cooking with someone.

For Margot, Editor Tellefsen knew that Margot’s main goal is to get out of this place. She figures out why Chef is doing all of this and finds out what Chef really wants in life - his passion back. Margot smartly asks for him to make a cheeseburger because he found his passion back then when making burgers.

As the Editor, this is important because when you have the character motives in mind, they will be the reason for your shot selections. So it’s crucial that you understand the story correctly on your end in order for your performances and shot selections to be correct as well. That’s very important. So when I said Editor Tellefsen needed to do his homework, this is what I meant and he did so very well.

Secondly, when putting this scene together, my main focus would be securing the shots for Chef Slowik and Margot first above anything else. The cooking shots are actually secondary in this scene because it’s important to lock their performances in first. That’s not to say we can’t put any cooking shots in the timeline but we must prioritize Chef Slowik and Margot’s shot over anything related to cooking. So if we needed to cut down on any shots, we’ll try to cut down something that’s cooking related. Their performances are too precious to lose.

Lastly, we must make sure our pacing is right. Our shots shouldn’t drag out too long nor should it be too quick. Add on the score and adjust the cut to hit the right parts of the score and that should get us to a good place. Again, I’d love to see previous versions of this scene to compare to how it used to be. But overall, Editor Tellefsen nailed this and successfully gave us an incredibly well-edited scene.

In Conclusion.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog and as always, don’t forget to subscribe to my social media platforms for more advice and behind the scenes breakdowns in film editing: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram. If you’re interested in learning more about Hollywood Editing and how to break into the industry, I do 1-on-1 Mentorship for anyone who’s interested in working on movies likes this. So feel free to schedule some time with me and I hope to meet you soon.

Anyways, thanks again for reading, let me know in the comments what your favorite scene was in The Menu. Until next time!

-Alfonso