Mostly Martha

One of the year's most popular foreign films, this German romantic comedy stars Martina Gedeck as an uncompromising restaurant chef who runs her meticulously ordered kitchen like Rommel, and berates customers who do not appreciate her efforts. Into her life come two people who add much-needed spice: her willful eight-year-old niece, whom Martha--who is anything but maternal--takes in after the girl's mother dies in an accident; and a free-spirited Italian chef, whom Martha feels undermines her authority. The fact that Mostly Martha leaves such a satisfying aftertaste is something of a miracle, especially since the questionable happy ending may have some feminists balking at the notion that this successful single woman's life is unfulfilled without a child and a husband. Recommended. (K. Lee Benson)