Script Analysis: “The Menu” — Scene-By-Scene Breakdown

Here is my take on this exercise from a previous series of posts — How To Read A Screenplay:

After a first pass, it’s time to crack open the script for a deeper analysis and you can do that by creating a scene-by-scene breakdown. It is precisely what it sounds like: A list of all the scenes in the script accompanied by a brief description of the events that transpire.

For purposes of this exercise, I have a slightly different take on scene. Here I am looking not just for individual scenes per se, but a scene or set of scenes that comprise one event or a continuous piece of action. Admittedly this is subjective and there is no right or wrong, the point is simply to break down the script into a series of parts which you then can use dig into the script’s structure and themes.

The value of this exercise:

• We pare down the story to its most constituent parts: Scenes.
• By doing this, we consciously explore the structure of the narrative.
• A scene-by-scene breakdown creates a foundation for even deeper analysis of the story.

Today: The Menu (2022). You may download the script here.

Written by Seth Reiss and Will Tracy.

Plot summary: A young couple travels to a remote island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.

The Menu
Written by Seth Ross & Will Tracy
Scene by Scene Breakdown by Rase McCray
GoIntoTheStory.com

p. 1–4. MARGOT and TYLER wait at a dock, tensely commenting on the arrival of the other guests: Rich tech-nerd bros BRYCE, SOREN, and DAVE; wealthy regulars RICHARD and ANNE LIEBRANDT; self-important food critic LILLIAN BLOOM and toady editor, TED; and an aging MOVIE STAR with his young assistant FELICITY. As their boat arrives, Tyler is vastly more excited for their upcoming dinner at Hawthorn than Margot, out of her element even as she recognizes Richard.

p. 4–6. Aboard the ship, the Tech Bros whisper among themselves that the Movie Star is a has-been; Tyler comments to Margot that the Star is also only a pretend foodie.

p. 6–10. A small appetizer (oyster in emulsion) is served, which Tyler adores, while Margot is ambivalent. Meanwhile, Lillian Bloom relates how she “discovered” CHEF JULIAN SLOWIK at his first restaurant, taking credit also for rescuing him when he was working at a Korean taco truck and securing his current angel investor as well.

p. 10. Margot is unimpressed by Slowik’s career, but Tyler continues his fanboying. They enjoy the view while the Tech Bros schmooze with the Movie Star.

p. 11–13. As the guests disembark, ELSA checks them in but is thrown off by Margot’s presence; as Tyler explains that she has replaced his previous date, Margot watches their boat leave. The Tech Bros continue chatting with the Movie Star, who drops hints about his new food-travel show.

p. 13–19. Elsa explains that this night at Hawthorn will be special, then leads a tour of the island, explaining the staff’s devotion to the perfect meal. Throughout, she smoothly chides ignorant remarks from the Tech Bros, the toady editor, the Movie Star, and Tyler; she even challenges the food critic about an overly negative review. Margot confides similar annoyances to Tyler, bringing them together until he gets upset at a comment she makes about Chef Slowik.

p. 19–21. Arriving at Hawthorn’s dining room, the guests see LINDA, an elderly woman drinking wine. Elsa again points out that Margot is replacing Tyler’s previous date, and Richard changes seats to not look at Margot. Elsa encourages the guests to watch the cooks, but to not take pictures of the food. Under the auspices of asking a cook about a “Pacojet,” Tyler shows off his culinary knowledge, until the cook asks him, by name, to sit down for the next course.

p. 21. At last, Chef Slowik arrives. Elsa whispers something to him, and he looks at Margot.

p. 22–24. An Amuse Bouche (pickled cucumber melon and milk snow) is served, eliciting immediate criticism from Lillian and Ted. Felicity reminds the Movie Star this is her last day of work, but, believing she’ll actually stay, he wants to talk about the food and his upcoming show. The Tech Bros discuss their vapid lives.

p. 24–25. Tyler snaps an elicit photo of his food, which Elsa notices, then praises the dish. Margot, enjoying the dish only moderately, gets Tyler to talk about why he likes this dinner so much. She (halfheartedly?) says that helps her “get it.”

p. 25–27. Chef claps for attention, then while welcoming his guests, requests they “do not eat: Taste. Savor. Relish.” As the staff serve the first course (the Island’s foraged plants & scallop), Chef explains the dish, interrupted by Tyler whispering his own observation to Margot. Chef stops briefly to glare at Tyler, who apologizes.

p. 27–29. Tyler cries softly, claiming it’s because of the dish’s beauty but then admits he’s worried Chef is mad at him. Margot points out that Tyler is a customer, not Chef’s friend.

p. 29–31. The Movie Star, with lazy arrogance, badly pitches his food travel show to Felicity’s disbelief. Anne and Rich make disinterested small talk. Lillian Bloom/Ted pompously nitpick the food, while the Tech Bros do the same unappreciatively.

p. 32. Tyler says he likes seeing working-class Margot in this upscale space, in part because of how she hates it. They seem to share a sweet moment, but she drops the act when he turns away. Chef startles her when he claps for attention again.

p. 33–35. Chef explains that this bread service (“breadless” bread plate) is for guests who are “not the common man.” Lillian Bloom loves the concept as a critique of class but notes a “broken” emulsion; Ted, as always, concurs. Despite Tyler giddily fawning over the dish, Margot finds it insulting.

p. 35–37. As Lillian boasts that she bakes her own bread, with yeast she makes from apples, Elsa arrives with more of the broken emulsion, courtesy of Chef. The Tech Bros flag Elsa down to request Chef’s “super-famous” bread, though of course they “get” the concept. When she refuses, they try to bully her by mentioning they work with Chef’s angel investor. She replies, “You will eat less than you desire and more than you deserve.”

p. 37–39. Across the room, Tyler reaches for Margot’s uneaten plate, breaking a wine glass. Chef comes to the table, confronting Margot about not eating, but she states firmly that she’ll only eat what she wants; he leaves, stopping only to kiss Linda’s forehead. Tyler is humiliated, but Margot is defiant.

p. 39–41. Anne catches Margot staring at Richard and comments how much she looks like their daughter; he denies the likeness. Felicity admits that she got a new job because there’s no future as the Movie Star’s assistant; the Movie Star admits his wife found out about an affair he’s having.

p. 41–42. Introducing the second course (chicken thigh, masa tortillas), Chef Slowik relates a memory of when he saved his drunk mother — who is revealed to be Linda — by stabbing his drunk father with kitchen scissors. Margot looks on with empathy. He also notes, accompanied by a jab at Lillian, that the tortillas are laser-engraved with memories personal to each guest.

p. 43–45. The tortillas: Lillian gets restaurants closed by her negative reviews; Anne and Richard get pictures of them on previous visits, and one of Richard with another woman. The Tech Bros are distressed at getting their company’s incriminating tax records, and they unsuccessfully confront Elsa over it. The Movie Star gets the poster from one of his bad movies.

p. 45–47. Tyler gets pictures from tonight’s dinner of him sneaking photos of the food, which angers Margot. As Tyler sulks, Margot insists on sending the food back. She waves a server over, but Tyler interrupts with finger snaps, then calls her a child. She insists he apologize, but he contemptuously shuts her down before making himself a taco.

p. 47–48. Margot leaves the table, passing, notably, by a magnificent silver door on her way to the ladies room. Inside, she cracks a window and lights a cigarette. She spies outside a staff member carrying large costume wings.

p. 48–49. Chef enters the ladies room, pleading to know why she’s not eating. He seems actually hurt by her refusal, but Margot says only that she’s not hungry. He insistently, repeatedly asks her who she is, deflecting her usual evasions of the question, then finally he states plainly that she shouldn’t be there.

p. 49–51. Back in the dining room, the Movie Star and Felicity debate why that movie is on the tortilla. Margot returns, kissing Tyler and warning him to watch his mouth. Richard watches her, so she winks at him. The Tech Bros, confident that Chef can’t take them down without also spurning his angel investor, eat their tacos.

p. 51–54. Servers roll out a tarp in the middle of the floor, and Margot is ready when Chef claps this time. A Tech Bro interrupts Chef, but is calmed by Elsa. Chef introduces sous chef Jeremy, who created the next dish, then gives a brief assessment of why Jeremy, though talented and ready to sacrifice everything, will never have the skills to match his ambition. What’s left for Jeremy is “The Mess,” which inspires the third course. Chef kisses his cheek, then Jeremy shoots himself in the head.

p. 54–55. The cooks return to work, and Chef, though crying a little while the servers roll up Jeremy’s body in the tarp, explains this is all part of the menu. The guests, distraught, are handed moist washcloths to wash off blood splatter, then served their meal (pressure cooked vegetables, roasted filet). The Tech Bros are in shock, but Lillian dismisses it as stagecraft.

p. 55–58. Richard and Anne attempt to leave, but Elsa stands in their way. When Richard tries to push through, Elsa has a cook cut off his ring finger, then she hands his wedding ring to Anne. At Felicity’s prompting, the Movie Star admits he was lying about knowing Chef Slowik and therefore has no power to stop this. Lillian Bloom wonders if everyone else is an actor putting on a show for her benefit. Tyler eats his food, still enjoying it.

p. 58–60. Chef invites Margot, but not Tyler, into the kitchen. He says the menu, including the guest list, is painstakingly planned — and he doesn’t know if she belongs “with us [those who give] or with them [those who take].” Either way, he admits, everyone is going to die tonight, which Margot says makes picking sides arbitrary. Chef disagrees, giving her until the next dish (15 minutes) to decide.

p. 60–61. Margot returns to the table to find Tyler upset because he believes that she got a kitchen course. She slaps him. After the Tech Bros and the Movie Star consider their chances with knives, one of the Bros throws his chair against a bay window — to no effect except his own devastation. The sommelier asks if anyone would like more wine.

p. 62–65. Chef claps for attention, then offers the fourth course (a palate cleansing tea) and to take questions. Tyler asks first if he correctly smells bergamot in the tea. To the question of why they’ll all die tonight, Chef lists their sins: Lillian, for example, has damaged many livelihoods (including “rescuing” Chef from his taco truck, a time he was truly happy), and Ted enables her; a server delivers a large bowl of the broken emulsion to underline the point. Anne and Richard have eaten Chef’s expensive meals 11 times yet can’t recall even a single course.

p. 65–67. Margot asks why Chef deserves to die. The answer? His restaurant is inaccessibly expensive, and he tries too hard to please people. But our culture rewards that, so the only answer is to die. A Tech Bro points out that Hawthorn is owned by his angel investor. Chef agrees, cueing a spotlight to reveal said angel investor is outside, suspended above the bay in angel wings. The Tech Bros offer gobs of money to make this stop, but Chef instead has the investor lowered into the water to drown.

p. 68. Chef has everyone silently appreciate the quiet of his new freedom. Margot, horrified, barely registers Tyler’s whispered guess that they still have three more savory courses, then dessert. But Margot’s 15 minutes are up — time to meet Chef again. After a warning from Elsa to not ruin Chef’s menu, Margot is led to his office.

p. 69–71. Margot suggests that she leave, that tonight is not meant for her. Chef counters that she, a fellow “service” worker, belongs with the staff, then asks her about Richard; she discloses that he’d hired her to role-play as his daughter while he masturbated. She and Chef discover common ground in no longer enjoying their work.

p. 71–73. The guests are shepherded outside for the next course, and two of the Tech Bros contemplate escape while Lillian and Ted begin to accept their fate. Sous chef KATHERINE explains that Chef propositioned her twice, then, having been refused, wouldn’t speak to her for eight months — just one example of the industry’s sexism that led her to create the next dish, “Man’s Folly.” She stabs kitchen scissors into Chef’s thigh, and they hug as he apologizes. As part of the dish, the men will be given a chance to escape.

p. 74–79. The men scatter, except Tyler who walks off only at Chef’s urging. Katherine leads the women back inside to a single round table where they’re served the fifth course (crab, yogurt whey, umeboshi). Lillian compliments the dish, which Katherine appreciates despite the circumstances, then weeps softly. Wiping her tears away, she remembers that the course also includes Hawthorn’s famous bread. Felicity asks if they’re really going to die, and Katherine explains that it’s essential to the meaning of the concept, that, in fact, the dying was her suggestion. Interwoven with the women’s dinner, scenes of the men being caught — a special egg dish is given to Tech Bro Bryce, the last man to be apprehended. (Tyler remains just outside the dining room, looking longingly at the women eating.)

p. 79–80. Anne asks Margot if she knows Richard, and Margot says, “yeah,” which is enough for Anne to understand everything. Lillian Bloom asks if she can smoke, then bums a cigarette from Margot. Feeling momentarily safer, Margot confides that she’s really Erin, from Brockton, Massachusetts.

p. 80–81. But the men are brought back in. Bryce decries that the women got bread, and Tyler rushes to their table to eat leftover scraps. Richard realizes that Margot and Anne have talked, and the Movie Star dejectedly admits he’s a failure.

p. 81–83. Chef, seething contempt, forces Tyler to admit that he’s here even though he knew beforehand that everyone would die tonight. What’s more, when his girlfriend wouldn’t join this suicide mission, he hired Margot knowing she’d die. Therefore, Tyler, knowing so much, must be a cook who belongs in the kitchen. Elsa brings him Chef Whites and kitchen tools.

p. 84–86. “Now cook,” Chef demands of Tyler, offering him all the kitchen’s resources. As Tyler fumbles, Chef mocks his choices, techniques, and plating. Tyler cries as Chef takes a bite then delightedly spits it out, saying “You are why the mystery has been drained from our art.” He whispers something else to Tyler, who agrees, then walks alone to the back of the kitchen. To Margot, Chef adds, “Now you’re free, too.”

p. 86–89. Chef apologizes to everyone for that brief disruption, admitting that perfection is impossible. As he leads Margot away, she interrupts him to observe that everyone else has “reached the end” — but she hasn’t and still wants to live. Chef dismisses this new attempt at getting away and asks her, as one of the staff, to fetch a barrel from the smokehouse that Elsa forgot there. She accepts the task. As she passes Chef’s office, she sees Tyler has hanged himself.

p. 89. Margot walks to the smokehouse, but, instead of the barrel, she steals a fish scaling knife. She walks to Chef’s cottage.

P90–92. Just before Chef can clap for the next course, the Movie Star makes a courageous but faltering plea begging for humanity or at least to let Felicity go. In response, Chef explains that the Movie Star is being punished for making a movie so terrible, it’s “what becomes of an artist when he loses his purpose” — and Felicity graduated from Brown University without taking any loans.

p. 92–94. Margot enters Chef’s cottage, an exact replica of the restaurant; she sits at her same seat. HARD CUT to Felicity being forced to feed the Movie Star peanuts that he’s allergic to; the food critic is waterboarded with the emulsion. Back in Chef’s cottage, Margot tries to open the silver door she saw in the restaurant — locked — then hears Elsa open the cottage door. Elsa fights Margot, saying “You will not replace me.” Margot throws all sorts of kitchen utensils at Elsa, finally getting a solid blow when she throws a Pacojet. Defeated, Elsa confides that she hadn’t forgotten the barrel — Chef had. She grabs Margot’s hand, which now holds the scaling knife, and kills herself.

p. 94–95. With Elsa’s keys, Margot opens the silver door. Inside the secret room: Chef Slowik’s private haven, including framed photos of his family and major achievements. Margot pulls a photo off the wall and gazes at it, not revealing to the audience what it is. Spying a radio, she calls the Coast Guard, then returns to the cottage’s “dining room” area.

p. 95–96. On the cottage’s intercom, Chef claps. He explains that he longs for death, but Margot challenges him: why not just go back to his taco truck? The Chef has no answer, but asks her to return with the barrel.

p. 96–97. Chef carries a birthday cake to one of the Tech Bros, singing. Margot enters with the barrel and takes her seat again. To answer her earlier question, Chef admits that he’s a monster, but he believes this night is “pure, egoless,” so his pain is almost gone. He holds his hand over the candle at Margot’s table and claims he could carry a hot cast-iron from the kitchen to the dining room with no protection. Snubbing the candle with his fingers, he quotes MLK: “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed.”

p. 97–100. But on the water — a boat! Chef realizes Margot has found the radio, so he clears the dining room. He warns the guests to not ask for help, as they will have an innocent death on their hands. And, he says, “Ask yourselves… why didn’t you all try harder to fight back?” When the lone Coast Guard Officer enters saying someone reported a murder, the staff laugh. Chef answers his questions, but before the officer can leave, he recognizes the Movie Star, and Chef offers the Star’s autograph. It turns out the officer and his wife love the very film that Chef hated.

p. 100–102. The officer turns to leave, but he realizes the “autograph” actually says “help us.” He turns back to point his gun at Chef, who gets on his knees but remains calm. As the officer reaches Chef, he turns to Margot’s table and pulls the trigger — revealing a small flame to relight the candle. He holsters the lighter-gun, then puts on an apron. Chef, for his part, tells Margot she has betrayed the kitchen; he now knows she’s an “eater, a taker, an animal like all the rest.” He signals for the final course, and the barrel is tipped over to let out a dark liquid; staff drape marshmallows over everyone. The sommelier pours wine everywhere, noting the “highly flammable” flavor profile.

p. 102–104. In contrast with the other diners’ resignation, Margot says, “I don’t like your food,” repeating the statement louder and louder until finally, she CLAPS once loudly to get Chef’s attention. Margot would like to send the food back: He’s “taken the joy out of eating. Every dish we’ve had tonight was some intellectual exercise… it tastes like it was made with no love.” Chef denies the charge, but Margot remains steadfast, claiming he cooks with obsession, not love. He’s bored her, and “worst of all, I’m still fucking hungry.” What she wants, is a cheeseburger — and not some avant deconstruction! She doesn’t even believe he’s capable of that.

p. 105–107. Chef assures her that for just $9.95, including fries, he can rise to this challenge. Cooking by himself while everyone else waits, he delivers her “just a well-made cheeseburger.” She savors a bite and agrees that it is actually quite awesome. Unfortunately, she’d like the rest of the burger to go. After a moment’s consideration, he wraps her food up and even includes a gift bag. She hands him a $10 bill, and thanks him for the meal, then walks out.

p. 107–108. Chef claps for the last time. The servers distribute the checks to each table, which include gratuity. Ted says the magazine will cover the bill, and Lillian cries realizing she’ll never get to write about this. Richard struggles to open his wallet with his missing fingers but gets no help from Anne, while the Tech Bros pay Dutch.

p. 108–110. Chef thanks everyone who, having ruined his art and his life, are now a “part of what I hope is my masterpiece,” then asks them for a round of applause. Donning a Marshmallow jacket, he announces their final course: the S’more, “the most offensive assault on the human palate ever contrived… everything wrong with us and yet we associate it with innocence.” After a few words on the “purifying flame,” he lights a match and tosses it into the barrel’s liquid.

p. 110. Margot sets out on the “coast guard” boat, but the engine stalls. Seeing the inferno rise up back on the island, she takes the cheeseburger out to eat as she watches Hawthorn burn, using the night’s menu as a napkin to dab grease from her lip.

p. 110–111. Firefighters discover the final course (marshmallow, chocolate, graham cracker, customers, staff, restaurant), but the silver door remains unburned. Entering the private room, the interior reveals a table with a single photograph of a young Chef Slowik, flipping a cheeseburger, happy.

Writing Exercise: I encourage you to read the script, but short of that, if you’ve seen the movie, go through this scene-by-scene breakdown. What stands out to you about it from a structural standpoint?

To download a PDF of the breakdown , go here.

Kudos to Rase McCray for doing the breakdown.

To see dozens more screenplay scene-by-scene breakdowns, go here.