“You can achieve everything in life, provided you sacrifice everything else.” That is what the chef de cuisine Sergio Herman did for years. Under his leadership, the Oud Sluis restaurant in Zeeland, Herman’s home region, became world renowned. But this was achieved with 20-hour working days, while his wife and three children never saw him. Everything had to be perfect and Herman wanted to be in charge of everything. In 2013, the chef de cuisine decided enough was enough. He closed the doors of his famous three-star restaurant.
In Sergio Herman, Fucking Perfect director Willemiek Kluijfhout follows the top chef during the last months of his elite establishment, where things are even more hectic than usual. But that’s not the end of it. There’s a new restaurant, The Jane, in Antwerp to get up and running. And there, too, Herman wants to take full control.
There’s a self-destructive side to Herman’s ambitions, a fact which greatly concerns his wife – television presenter Ellemieke Vermolen. Fearful that her husband will collapse under the pressure of work, she stocks up the kitchen cupboards with vitamin pills and food supplements. How much longer before things go amiss? By now the chef de cuisine wants to become a calm family man, but will this ever happen?