Tony (2026)

In a short, beautiful scene from Tony (2026), a young Anthony Bourdain (played with a fragile intensity by Dominic Sessa) and his mentor (Antonio Banderas) cook lobster. Bourdain notices on the wall of the kitchen Édouard Zier’s Le suicide de François Vatel and asks “What’s that painting?” His mentor answers:

Oh, that’s François Vatel. You know? He was preparing a banquet for Louis XIV, where everything was going to be perfect. He had worked on the menu for months, he had the best kitchen staff in France, and… And, you know, imported the wine from Italy. But the fish he ordered didn’t arrive on time, so he killed himself.

A confused Bourdain asks why, and his mentor repeats simply: “The fish he ordered didn’t arrive on time.”