After its Netflix streaming release, a new wave of audiences want to learn more about The Menu's deeper meaning.
Originally released in 2022, The Menu follows a couple who visit an exclusive restaurant on a remote island, only to discover the chef's shocking and sinister surprises.
Starring Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Nicholas Hoult (DC's new Lex Luthor), The Menu has quickly climbed the platform's Top 10 chart on Netflix in the U.S., proving its lasting impact.
The Menu Plot Explained & Meaning Breakdown
The Menu presents a biting critique of wealth, pretension, and the loss of artistic passion through the lens of fine dining. At its core, the film is a sharp dissection of classism, with Chef Julian Slowik's (Ralph Fiennes) guests embodying the entitled elite who consume without appreciation. The restaurant, Hawthorne, becomes a stage where Slowik inverts the power dynamics, stripping his patrons of their usual control.
One of the film's most striking moments is when a group of businessmen demand bread, only to be denied: a symbolic act that underscores their dependence on privilege.
Additionally, the presence of Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy), a working-class outsider, further challenges this hierarchy, giving the audience a pair of eyes, someone who recognizes the absurdity of it all.
Beyond its class commentary, The Menu delves into the pretentiousness that often surrounds art, particularly in elite spaces. The film skewers both the self-important food critic who overanalyzes each dish and the obsessive foodie who derives status from his supposed expertise.
Tyler (Nicholas Hoult), who worships Slowik's work, serves as a stand-in for those who reduce art to intellectual exercises rather than experiences of joy. Meanwhile, Lillian (Janet McTeer), the critic, gives meaning where there may be none, turning flaws into virtues simply because of the chef's reputation.
These characters highlight how the appreciation of art, whether in food, film, or any other medium, can be warped by status and self-importance, stripping it of any genuine enjoyment.
One of The Menu's most memorable (and meaningful) moments is Slowik's preparation of a simple cheeseburger for Margot. This scene encapsulates his lost passion for cooking, as it momentarily transports him back to a time when food was about joy rather than spectacle.
The cheeseburger represents authenticity, a stark contrast to the meticulously crafted yet soulless dishes Slowik now serves.
Margot, recognizing this, orders the burger in a way that acknowledges its true purpose: as something to be eaten and enjoyed, not deconstructed and analyzed.
In doing so, she reminds Slowik of the purity of creating something simple yet satisfying, offering him a fleeting moment of genuine fulfillment before he carries out his final act.
Ultimately, The Menu is a meditation on the intersection of art, commerce, and personal fulfillment. Slowik's final act, turning his guests and himself into a grotesque, fiery masterpiece, serves as both a rejection of the system that has exploited him and a clash against those who consume art without truly appreciating it.
Margot's escape, with her cheeseburger in hand, suggests a different path: one where art and pleasure can coexist without pretension.
As she wipes her mouth with Slowik's menu, it is a quiet yet powerful statement, one that acknowledges the chef's talent but refuses to be bound by the suffocating expectations of high society.
Want to learn more about Netflix in 2025? Learn more about 10 brand new shows hitting the streamer this year.
The Menu is streaming now on Netflix.
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