Martha (Martina Gedeck) is head chef in a busy kitchen. She cooks with an obsessed perfectionism and possess a short temper with customer complaints requiring her to see a therapist regularly. Martha lives alone, shutting others out of her life hiding behind her love for cooking. Her orderly life changes suddenly when her young niece Lina (Maxime Foerste) comes to live with her and a charming Italian sous-chef Mario (Sergio Castellitto) starts working in her kitchen. Martha must quickly learn how to be a mother to Lina and how to respect Mario as an equal partner in her kitchen. Mario the easygoing charmer, contrasts the focused closed Martha onscreen beautifully. Martina Gedeck’s performance is superb, the onscreen personal transformation of Martha throughout the film is believable and rewarding. I found Martha’s scenes with her therapist (August Zirner) boring and cliché. The therapist plays the typical ineffective practitioner who Martha visits time and time again without ever making any real progress. Overall Mostly Martha was charming and delightful. 3/5 stars.