');var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)};})();
Hunger (2023) Netflix Movie Ending Explained: Hunger, the new Thai Netflix original, directed by Sitisiri Mongkolsiri (known as Dom), takes a unique approach to ‘serve the rich’ with the idea of food, dirty politics, and conflict in upscale kitchens. The plot centers around a young woman who finds her calling in culinary arts and fine dining.
The film features the talented Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying (also known as Aokbab), who has appeared in critically acclaimed movies like Bad Genius (2017) and Happy Old Year (2019), alongside Gunn Svasti Na Ayudhya and Nopachai ‘Peter’ Jayanama, who plays her rival in the story.
By incorporating horror elements that create a sense of dread, the movie explores themes of capitalism and identity crises, all the way examining how food shapes social classes and how pursuing ambition can cause individuals to lose everything they hold dear. The film offers sophisticated storytelling that highlights the pervasiveness of serving the wealthy.
The movie portrays the competitive and cutthroat world of high-end kitchens, where social status is determined by class, and the food served defines one’s social status. Throughout the movie, the protagonist confronts her identity crisis and questions the cost of achieving success.
');var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)};})();
The protagonist’s rivalry intensifies the tension and conflict as the two battle for supremacy in the kitchen.
Hunger (2023) Netflix Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
The movie opens in a busy kitchen where the sous chef instructs his prodigies to get everything in line in the remaining time on the clock. We see a shadowy figure, supposedly the head chef getting ready to enter the kitchen. Metaphors about ants crawling, symbolizing the chef’s hard work, are thrown in, and when the head chef enters, we see him aligning the slightly misaligned arrangement.
All of it leads to preparing a lobster dish to be served to some hungry-rich-folks who have organized an event to showcase the chef’s talent. The dish prepared looks no less than an art installation, and the chef has a very particular way of allowing them to eat it. He asks the host to use his hand instead of cutlery, and he is amused when the host gorges onto it like a hungry beast.
We then move to a busy local restaurant where a young woman prepares dishes for her customers. A mysterious man takes just one bite and approaches the woman with an offer that her talents are too good for this small establishment. He then hands over a business card with ‘Hunger’ written and leaves.
The young woman who is named Aoy is then seen hanging out with her friends, who all have different jobs and are unhappy. The movie quickly establishes a difference between those born with a silver spoon and those who work their ass off to manage menial money. Aoy is unhappy to take over her father’s restaurant but still has to do it because of her younger siblings.
We then learn that the opening monologue showed us Chef Paul’s kitchen, ‘Hunger,’ which has offered the woman a position she is considering. We see her distracted at work the next day and the recruiter who came in earlier sitting outside the restaurant.
He then takes her to Chef Paul’s kitchen, where we realize that Aoy and one other man have been called upon for a tryout to become a member of Hunger. Chef Paul asks them to cook fried rice, where Aoy’s cooking is considered superior, and the other man is asked to leave.
The chef asks why she wants to join Hunger, to which she replies that she “wants to feel special.” He then asks her to get cleaned and return to the kitchen. The man who recruited her introduces himself as Tone and tells her about the sous chefs on the team. We learn that Aoy has been recruited because the other chef was fired, and she will replace him.
Chef Paul enters and tells the team that they will prepare a lavish meal with a theme of ‘flesh and blood’ for some 40-something, high-end political people the next day. Aoy, in the meantime, is supposed to learn how to fry beef just the right way.
The next few moments allow us to understand the inner workings of Chef Paul’s kitchen, which has an aggressive, demeaning atmosphere. Aoy is yelled at and made to feel small because she cannot fry the ‘finely sliced beef.’ She is given a tough choice – either cook the beef till she gets it right, or she can leave and settle with her life in the local restaurant. After feeling down for not getting the necessary preparation of the dish right, she leaves, only to return back to it. After spending the entire night in the kitchen, she perfects it.
At the party, she does her job well, and the team then proceeds to arrange their meal according to the party’s theme. We understand that it is not just about cooking; the art of preparation is shown as a demonstration. After the meal is over and everyone is happy with how it turned out, one of the sponsors, Mr. Tao, offers his business card to Aoy.
When Aoy returns to her restaurant the next day, she feels distracted. Her behavior also changes when she sees her brother eating homemade soup, which she finds gross. She then gets a call from Tone and leaves her conversation with her brother midway.
Tone takes Aoy around and shows her where they get their raw ingredients from. She understands that cooking for the rich also benefits the poor and makes her feel okay about what she is doing. After that, Chef Paul’s passive-aggressiveness returns when they are on their next job. Aoy is anxious about why she is not given a responsibility even though she is a junior sous chef. Paul dismisses her again and makes her feel small and unwanted.
For the next event, at the party organized by some rich bratty kids, Aoy understands the value of having one’s own menu to be a renowned chef. So she tries to instill some culinary manners into her family restaurant, but they seem less interested in a chic update.
Aoy then visits Tone at his house, where the two get intimate after he helps her prepare a meal from the raw materials that were possibly stolen from Chef Paul’s kitchen. They also share a kiss. The next day, Paul claims that someone has been stealing from him, and even though Aoy thinks that it’s Tone, Tae confesses and is fired, leading Paul to appoint Aoy the lead chef for the next event.
What happens at the event headed by Aoy?
At the event, Aoy notices that the host hands out money to Paul even though they cannot hire him. During the second serving, Paul gets furious and redoes the soup for some reason.
Back in the kitchen, he blames Tone for messing up the soup as it had shrimp in it. Tone claims that he had nothing to do with it, so Paul concludes that his old head chef, who is probably getting jealous of the new people on the team, must have done it because he was the only one who knew about the host’s daughter’s allergies.
At this point, Paul starts gaslighting the head chef, who stabs him with a kitchen knife out of frustration and leaves.
Why did Paul want to become a chef?
After being stabbed, Paul is admitted to a hospital, where Aoy realizes he has no family. When he refuses to eat the hospital food, she brings her family’s famous ‘crybaby noodles,’ which she claims to have made with love.
At this point, Paul tells her that no good food is made with love. He also tells her that he wanted to be a chef to make rich people bow down to him when he offered them food made by him. Paul wanted his food to satisfy their hunger and their need for a newer experience. Metaphors about capitalism, shown through a back story of Paul’s childhood where he accidentally broke a jar of caviar in a wealthy family’s home, allow us to understand his story.
What had happened at Aoy’s event as a lead?
After returning from the hospital, Aoy realizes that her father has collapsed, so she runs to the nearest local hospital, where her siblings cannot find a bed for her father.
When they find one, her father undergoes bypass surgery, and Aoy’s brother inquires if they can afford better services. When she goes out, she overhears the news that a family of three has undergone a murder-suicide. Before she realizes that this is the same family she served, the report declares that the father had killed his wife and three-year-old daughter before killing himself.
Why does Aoy quit?
On the next job, the team heads out to a remote jungle where the host is hunting endangered birds. One of the hosts aims and kills a bird that is to be their next meal.
It doesn’t sit right with Aoy’s moral fiber, and she questions Paul. Paul, who till this point has been established as a no-nonsense ambitious man, doesn’t pay heed to Aoy’s dilemma. It frustrates Aoy, who thinks that killing such birds is illegal. Upon seeing that her genuine concerns are unheard, she finally decides to leave.
What does Aoy do next to make things work?
Having quit her job and hospital bills piling up, Aoy calls up Tos (the sponsor she met at the first event), who offers her a place with authority to run the kitchen.
He tells her to unlearn everything she learned at ‘Hunger’ and make ‘Flame’ her new identity. Flame, the restaurant, draws instant attraction, and Aoy is recognized for her hard work.
However, deep down, she is slowly turning into Paul and, in despair, visits Tone, who is also trying to build a business independently after leaving Hunger. The two of them get into a spat leading them to walk in different directions.
Why does Paul visit Aoy?
One of the days when Aoy is closing up, Paul visits her. She cooks something for him and asks for his approval. Paul denies giving any feedback by saying that she has achieved success and that only her valued customer’s comments are important.
He also gives her a reality check by opening her eyes to her current situation. Paul makes her aware of all the losses she has endured to reach this height, also making her aware of the many losses that will follow.
Before leaving, he tells her he will meet her soon at Madame Milky’s event, where she will not be the only chef present. The film, at this point, indicates there will likely be a dual between Aoy’s Flame and Paul’s Hunger.
Hunger (2023) Netflix Movie Ending, Explained:
Aoy vs. Paul
Dish 1: Triumph of the New Wave vs. The Sacrificial Feast
Aoy asks Tos if Madame Milky specifically asked for them to come to the event leading us to believe that the dual between Paul and her was intentional. Aoy then proceeds to make her first course by bringing her Wok out as a ‘weapon’ of her choice and preparing a meticulously cooked meal that speaks the young blood.
In return, Paul first descends a live carcass of a cow from the ceiling before exhibiting his artistic inclination by setting it up in flames and offering the entire thing to be feasted on.
Dish 2: Crybaby Noodles vs. Ordinary People Soup
To top Paul’s first dish, Aoy finally cooks from her heart and returns to her roots by making her grandmother’s signature crybaby noodles. Everyone tastes it and finds it delicious despite its simplistic value.
To counter that, Paul decides to feed everyone the ordinary packet soup that we previously saw him making at Aoy’s first head-chef gig.
He then proceeds to get face-to-face with Aoy and tells her that she will never be able to win because of the prejudice rich people hold close to their hearts. That is, no matter how good Aoy becomes, she will never be able to top him.
Does Aoy win the dual?
When it looks like Aoy has finally lost, a group of policemen enter the event and try to drag Paul out with them. Everyone starts getting a video message of Paul cooking the endangered bird leading to his arrest.
In his usual gaslighting persona, he keeps blabbering about how he will be out soon, hinting towards the short-lived memory that wealthy people possess.
While it looks like Aoy has won the dual, we soon realize that Tos had hired Tone to release the video clip to give Aoy the upper hand. The idea of the dual was for Tos to use Aoy as a pawn and climb the capitalistic ladder on his own.
The ending of the Thai Netflix original Hunger finds a dejected and disheartened Aoy walking back to Shoyou – her family restaurant. She finds her father and breaks down as he consoles her. Her sister joins in and hugs her, and her brother forgives her for being absent for so long.
She returns to her station and declares that she will not work elsewhere and will prepare a menu of her own.
Hunger (2023) Movie Themes Analyzed:
Identity
One of the main themes in the film has to be that of identity. We aren’t aware of the protagonist’s name for a large part of the run time. She feels like a cog in the wheel who cannot understand what she wants to be.
When she is first called to Paul’s Hunger, she goes out on a whim for a prospect of a different life. However, when she reaches there, she feels like a puppet trained to be a certain way and only realizes what she is doing is wrong when her moral ethics are tempered.
Her identity throughout the film is defined by taking the next step or the next big thing without her realizing that there is no end to all of it.
Capitalism
Another one of the key themes director Sitisiri Mongkolsiri explores is that of the exploitative nature of Capitalism.
Since Aoy comes from a working-class environment, the glittery world of Paul’s kitchen automatically sucks her into its black hole.
She doesn’t realize how the entire world operates on the flow of money and how the ones in a comfortable position merely exploit the ones below them for their own benefit.
The Façade of Creating Art
When Aoy cooks her grandma’s crybaby noodles for Paul, she tells him that the dish holds a special place in her heart and is a way to express that love indeed influences one to find the actual palette.
Paul quickly dismisses her, claiming that people don’t seek love but that cooking is like an exhibit. This theme again plays out when Paul, soon after Aoy’s first serving at the dual, quickly diverts everyone’s attention to his showdown. He uses the center stage of the event to display his culinary artwork.
It shows that people with money do not understand food or how much effort goes into cooking a perfect meal. They are only invested in the intricate design of cooking a meticulously crafted meal. The façade of creating art is at the film’s crux as Paul is quite aware that a massive part of his success lies in allowing his customers to experience hunger instead of fulfilling their desire to eat something delicious.
