Big spoilers for The Menu if you haven’t seen it yet!!! The Menu is now available streaming for those with an HBO Max subscription.
When it comes to horror movies in 2022, there were plenty that stood out amongst the rest, and one that I seriously loved was The Menu.
As a foodie and lover of cooking shows, a black comedy/horror movie about a mysterious chef was right up my alley, and I watched that film with an empty stomach and widened eyes until the very end. But one thing perplexed me as the credits started to roll: Why did no one at Chef Slowik’s restaurant try to run after Margot was let go? Why did they all just sit there and let it happen?
If you’re like me, you’re probably wondering this exact question too. But thankfully, the director of the film, Mark Mylod, talked about it with Den of Geek, and really gave us the answers we were all looking for.
Why Didn’t The Diners Fight Back At The End Of The Movie?
The big question here is why. Why did Chef Slowik take all these diners out? Why did no one try to run at the end when it was clear what was about to happen? And why was Margot the only one who was let go? On the surface level, it looked as if Chef Slowick (played by the wonderful Ralph Fiennes) was seemingly just an insane man who wanted to take out a group of elite people with him.
But from what director Mark Mylod said to Den of Geek, that's not actually the true reason. Chef Slowik doesn’t see it that way – rather, he sees it almost as a way to “liberation” for the diners.
From Chef Slowik’s point of view, they’re not getting their comeuppance, they’re getting liberation, they’re getting rebirth.
Throughout the film, we see how much Chef Slowik has grown distaste for the elite, how by cooking for them, they have taken the joy out of cooking for him. He sees the sins of their past and how some of them come here for fame, or to gain his approval, or just to spend their ridiculous money fruitlessly, and he sees that as sinful. The more people that get hurt, the more he starts to expose them for who they truly are, the deeper it goes.
And as the night goes on, and Chef Slowik keeps pushing that fact – inevitably, they submit to his will. From the way Mylod puts it, it sounds like it's a combination of things that leads them to accept their fate:
The absolute futility of escape coupled with the journey they’ve been on, that whisper in the air of Slowik’s words over that evening, over the dinner, the combination of those two elements is just taking them to a place of absolute naked submission.
So that might help to explain why the diners don't try to get away. But why is it that Chef let Margot go?
The Only Person Who Got Out Was Margot Because She “Outwitted” Slowik – And Didn’t Deserve Liberation
Margot (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) wasn’t even supposed to be at this dinner. She was a last-minute date that Chef Slowik fanatic, Tyler (played by Nicholas Hoult) hired to join him, and throughout the night, she doesn’t eat his food – which prompts Chef Slowik to ask if she’s with “us” or “them,” meaning the elites.
In the end, her survival comes down to her claiming she's still hungry and asking Chef Slowik to cook her a simple cheeseburger – not some deconstructed, food/art project, but something that she knows she will love – and that he will love to cook. Something simple, because she knows he misses the joy that cooking once brought him, having seen the photo he had of himself as a burger cook at an early point in his career.
Mylod spoke with The Wrap about the ending of The Menu, and how it was always the plan for Margot to escape from the clutches of the restaurant – simply because she’s a lot more aware of everything around her than anyone else is.
From the very start, she was always going to outwit him. It was always the case that she would get out, and that she would use her intuition and empathy [to do so].
And so in using the information she got from her small patch of freedom on the island, she is able to outwit Slowik, knowing that if she just gets him to cook something that she’d love and he’d love to cook, she’d be free – not only of the restaurant, but of death, of Slowik’s liberation.
Chef Slowik was certainly a more uneasy villain in a horror movie, and I for one enjoyed The Menu thoroughly. If you haven’t seen it, be sure to watch it now.
