Martha's therapy sessions, however, turn into monologues on food, and her approach to stress management usually involves briefly retreating to the restaurant's walk-in refrigerator.
Martha's life takes a dramatic turn when her sister is killed in a car accident, leaving behind an eight-year-old daughter, Lina (Maxime Foerste).
While coping with her sister's death and raising the young girl, Martha's world is further complicated when Frida hires fun-loving and unorthodox Mario (Sergio Castellitto) as a sous-chef to replace Lea (Katja Studt), who is expecting a child any day.
Just as Martha's strained relationship with Lina seems to be improving, she forgets to collect the girl from school while helping Lea, her very-pregnant sous chef, get to the hospital to deliver her baby.
The principal also tells Martha that when he asked the girl why she was always so tired, she told him that she was forced to work in a kitchen to earn her room and board.
[5] The soundtrack is composed mostly of music by artists from the ECM Records stable, including Keith Jarrett, Steve Reich, David Darling, and Arvo Pärt, with most compositions dating from the 1990s.
The site's critics consensus reads, "Mostly Martha may have a predictable plot, but it still feels charming and fresh, and the food will make you hungry.
"[7] In his review in The New York Times, film critic Elvis Mitchell wrote, "The movie itself has a trim, ticking precision, though Manfred Eicher (one of the founders of the ECM jazz label) adds a score that gives the picture a light-handed rhythm.
"[8] In their review in Spirituality & Practice, Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat wrote, "Writer and director Sandra Nettelbeck beautifully orchestrates the transformation of the chilly, neurotic, and self-absorbed Martha as her heart begins to open under the tutelage of Lina and Mario.
... As much as any other motion picture that employs the preparation and consumption of food as a key element, Mostly Martha provides the perfect blend of cinematic nourishment and gratification.