Mostly Martha

Martha Klein is the head chef at a French restaurant in Hamburg, and her life revolves almost entirely around her kitchen. Her precision and high standards make her formidable at work, though her temper flares whenever a customer questions one of her dishes. That solitary routine ends abruptly when her sister dies, leaving Martha to take in her eight-year-old niece, Lina. The grieving child and her inflexible aunt struggle to get along, until Mario, a new Italian cook on the restaurant's staff, begins to soften the household and shift Martha's view of her own life. The arrival of Lina's father complicates matters further.

Sandra Nettelbeck wrote and directed this German-Austrian-Italian-Swiss co-production, released in 2001. It runs 106 minutes and mixes comedy, drama and romance. Martina Gedeck plays Martha, with Maxime Foerste as Lina and Sergio Castellitto as Mario; August Zirner, Ulrich Thomsen and Sibylle Canonica also appear among the 24 credited cast members.

Made for a modest budget, the film took in about 10 million dollars worldwide, a solid return for a European production of its scale. On IMDb it holds 7.2/10 from roughly 8,900 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.7/10 from 116 votes, and critics rated it 7.3/10 across 84 reviews, indicating a warmer professional response than its small TMDB sample suggests.