Music may be the food of love, but there's more heartbreak than happiness in Spanish director Ventura Pons' English-language debut.
Eighteen-year-old Paul (Kevin Bishop) is an up-and-coming pianist who lands a job working as a page turner at a concert in San Francisco by world renowned pianist Richard Kennington (Paul Rhys). When the pair later bump into each other on holiday in Barcelona, Paul's no sooner met his idol then he's been seduced into bed with back rubs and massages.
So, the scene is set for Paul to panic about his sexuality - classic coming-of-age stuff. Except, "Food of Love" is anything but conventional. Already at ease with his desires, Paul is quite happy sleeping with his hero and abandons his mother (Juliet Stevenson) in Barcelona while he spends all day smooching with Richard.
Like all holiday romances, it can't last. Six months later, Paul is in New York studying piano and gradually bedding every influential gay music connoisseur he comes across, with hardly a care in the world. Except that he still loves Richard.
More complex than its initial setup promises, this adaptation of David Leavitt's novella "The Page Turner" is an unusual drama that's quite content to let its main character turn into a priggish little troublemaker, who'll happily sleep with anyone to advance his career.
Although hampered by several moribund performances (Bishop is clearly out of his depth in the lead role), this has enough of a glossy, polished veneer to remain interesting, if not exactly engaging.
Building up complex characters with remarkable ease, "Food of Love" is more than just another gay coming of age story. It occasionally bristles with insight into the lies that we tell one another and ourselves.
