The Truth About American Psycho's Famous Opening Credits Restaurant Scene

From revealing hidden emotions to hinting at a characters' development, food has played a significant role on the big screen for generations. When it comes to movies, food can tell us so much more about a character than just their taste buds. A character's signature order at a restaurant can result in viewers either idolizing the character, pitying them, or even viewing them as a child. As everyone in the real world knows, we all gotta eat! Seeing our favorite TV show or movie characters sitting around the family dinner table or at a local diner booth, instantly makes them more real and relatable. Of course, the opposite can also be true; from Leonardo DiCaprio eating raw meat for "The Revenant" to Will Ferrell's absurd sugar intake while shooting "Elf", there are some iconic food scenes that were grueling to film in real life.

Food plays a key role in the darkly satirical horror film, "American Psycho." In this adaption of Bret Easton Ellis's controversial novel, dining out at exclusive and expensive restaurants is a hobby shared between Patrick Bateman, played by Christian Bale, and his fellow wealthy Wall Street pals. Set in the shallow and superficial world of 1980s New York, food reflects your social standing; it's not so much about what you are eating, but at what restaurant and with whom. From boasting about booking a reservation at Pastel to drooling over the peanut butter soup with smoked duck from Dorsia, food is at the center stage of this film.

While many of the dishes in "American Psycho" sound like fine dining foods, the fancy names rattled off by the waiters disguise the fact that most of the food is practically inedible, from the rare roasted partridge and the swordfish meatloaf to the charcoal arugula salad. Yuck.

Director and co-writer Mary Harron introduces food right from the start of the movie. In the opening credits, Harron presents a scene of what appears to be drops of blood falling on a crisp white surface. The blood continues to fall but gradually turns from drops to streaks, twisting around the blank white background. Suddenly, the blood drops turn into juicy raspberries, and the rivulets turn into a raspberry coulis snaking across an elaborately plated meat dish. A knife aggressively cuts into a piece of poultry. The opening credits then transition into a restaurant scene with a waiter reading out an absurd list of specials.

So, what does it all mean? At its core, "American Psycho" tells the story of Patrick Bates, an investment banker and New York City yuppie on the surface, who is secretly a violent serial killer preying on sex workers, colleagues, and civilians around the city. In this title sequence, Harron cleverly conveys how appearances can be deceiving. Just like Bates, the opening sequence has a deeper meaning lurking beneath the surface. The sequence of events suggests that like food, people could be objects to be devoured and consumed.