Q&A with Frederick Wiseman on Oct. 7 & 9

The United States’s unrivaled maestro of observational nonfiction, Frederick Wiseman, brings his camera into a three-star Michelin restaurant in rural central France, and the results are as expansive, delectable, and provocative as one would hope. La Maison Troisgros, located in the Roanne commune in Loire, is run by head chef Michel Troisgros and his sons César and Léo. In addition to displaying the craft and skill that goes into Troisgros’s mouthwatering dishes, Wiseman takes an organic approach, bringing us to the local farms that provide the restaurant’s produce and animal products as well as behind the scenes with floor staff and administrators. The result is a patient, kaleidoscopic documentary portrait of the demand for perfection that makes for a surprising but apt subject in Wiseman’s decades-long inquiries into the inner workings of complicated institutions that function with their own rules and standards. A Zipporah Films release.

All NYFF61 feature documentaries are presented by:

Recommended Film Comment reading:

Sign up to the Film Comment Letter for NYFF61 coverage and more original film criticism year-round.