Vatel was a costume drama heavy on costumes, very light on drama. Gérard Depardieu wandered through this movie looking dazed and confused. His role seem to consist of a character walking through the back kitchens of a chateau trying this and tasting that. The first five times he did this were fine. You got the point that he was managing all the preparations for the King and had his hands into everything but he continued the behavior over and over. It got to be ridiculous and that was his contribution to the movie. Uma Thurman sat around looking sad and wistful and, for some reason not really explained, fell in love with Depardieu. That was a stretch. Tim Roth mugged it up acting conspiratorial and Julian Sands was good as the King though he lacked the calves. The costumes were wonderful and I looked forward to the DVD's extra feature called "The Costumes of Vatel". What a disappointment. It was about 7 minutes long and said yes there were costumes in Vatel. Nothing about the historical background or the colors or fabric. It seem to me to be a gold mine of information of which they said nothing. If you must, watch the movie for the setting and costumes but don't expect heavy drama or deep historical significance.
