The Menu

The film had its world premiere at the 47th Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022, and was theatrically released in the United States on November 18, 2022, by Searchlight Pictures. It grossed over $79.6 million worldwide and received positive reviews from critics, who praised the screenplay and performances of the cast. At the 80th Golden Globe Awards, Fiennes and Taylor-Joy were nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress – Musical or Comedy, respectively. The film earned five nominations, including Best Thriller Film, at the 51st Saturn Awards.

Dinner begins and Slowik introduces a series of courses, during which he delivers increasingly unsettling monologues. For the third course, uncomfortable truths about each guest are exposed via images laser-printed on tortillas. During the fourth course, sous-chef Jeremy kills himself. When Richard tries to leave, the staff cuts off his left ring finger as a warning to stay. Hawthorn’s angel investor Doug Verrick, to whom Slowik relinquished ownership during the COVID-19 pandemic, is drowned in front of the guests. The fifth course commences with Slowik allowing himself to be stabbed by Katherine, an employee whom he had sexually harassed. The female guests dine with Katherine while the men are given the chance to escape the island via a game of cat-and-mouse, but Slowik’s staff catches them all. When Lillian attempts to gain Katherine’s favor by offering assistance in starting her own restaurant, Katherine reveals that she was the one who suggested Slowik kill the guests and staff.

Slowik explains that each guest was invited because they contributed to him losing his passion for his craft or because they make a living by exploiting the work of food artisans like him. He announces that everyone will be dead by the end of the night. Since Margot’s presence was unplanned, Slowik privately gives her the choice of dying with the staff or the guests. When she hesitates, he chooses the staff. Margot is unmasked as an escort named Erin, whose clients included Richard, whom she stopped meeting because he hired her to pretend to be his daughter. Slowik reveals that Tyler was informed the guests would be killed. Despite this, he was so zealous to participate in Slowik’s craft that he kept it secret and hired Margot to replace his ex-girlfriend because Hawthorn does not seat lone diners. Slowik invites Tyler to cook, and his performance in the kitchen fails to live up to his pretensions. Slowik humiliates him by detailing his culinary mistakes, then whispers in his ear, and a deflated Tyler leaves the kitchen.

Slowik asks Margot to go to the smokehouse and collect a barrel needed for dessert. As she leaves the kitchen, she discovers that Tyler has hanged himself in a closet. En route, Margot sneaks into Slowik’s house, where she is attacked by a jealous Elsa. After a scuffle, Margot fatally stabs her. After seeing a framed employee of the month award showing Slowik as a young and happy cook preparing hamburgers at a greasy spoon diner, Margot finds a radio, calls for help and returns to the restaurant with the barrel. A Coast Guard officer named Dale arrives. After the guests are convinced they have been saved, Dale reveals himself to be a line cook in disguise and returns to the kitchen.

As dessert is being prepared, Margot confronts Slowik for his “loveless” cooking and complains that she is still hungry. When he asks what she would like, Margot requests a cheeseburger and French fries prepared without the pretentiousness of fine dining. Moved by her request, Slowik personally prepares the food, and finds joy in doing so. After one bite, Margot praises the food, then requests to take it “to go”. Slowik allows her to leave, and Margot escapes on the Coast Guard boat docked nearby. The dessert is an elevated s’mores dish—the staff decorate the restaurant with crushed graham crackers and melted chocolate, then adorn the guests with marshmallow stoles and chocolate hats. Slowik sets the restaurant ablaze, detonating the barrel and killing the guests, staff, and himself. Safely away, Margot eats her cheeseburger as she watches the restaurant burn, and uses a copy of the menu to wipe her mouth.