The Wing or the Thigh? (1976) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Charles loses his taste after being forced to eat leftovers at a restaurant that had lost its stars due to his previous reviews. The restaurant manager, now working for Tricatel, intentionally humiliates Charles by making him consume leftover food, which causes severe food poisoning. This illness results in Charles losing both his senses of taste and smell, a devastating condition for a culinary critic.

Foreshadowing: Earlier in the film, Charles disguises himself in elaborate costumes to maintain anonymity during restaurant reviews, establishing the high stakes he places on his culinary reputation.

• taste loss
• food poisoning
• restaurant manager
• humiliation
• illness

Gérard is fired from the circus after Tricatel discovers his secret night performances and reports this to Charles. During a confrontation at the circus, the manager reveals that he once worked for a restaurant Charles had criticized, holding a grudge. He fires Gérard as part of Tricatel's scheme to undermine the Duchemin family by exploiting their personal conflicts.

Foreshadowing: The timeline shows Lambert secretly following the Duchemins and discovering Gérard's nightly escape to perform with the circus, setting up the eventual exposure.

• circus
• firing
• Gérard
• Tricatel
• manager confrontation

When an operative sent by Tricatel attempts to steal the current restaurant guide from Charles's office, Charles employs a clever ruse. He convinces the operative that the documents in front of him are actually last year's guide, causing the thief to take the old data instead. Charles and Gérard then track the operative to discover that Lambert, Tricatel's assistant, is behind the theft.

Foreshadowing: Charles is established as a master of disguise and deception, regularly disguising himself to review restaurants anonymously, establishing his cunning nature.

• operative
• theft
• guide
• trick
• Lambert

During their infiltration of Tricatel's food factory, Charles and Gérard discover that the food products are made from artificial ingredients including petroleum and rubber. This horrifying revelation exposes the true nature of Tricatel's industrial food production. They manage to escape with samples of this evidence just in time for the televised confrontation.

Foreshadowing: The film establishes early on that Tricatel represents mass-produced, low-quality food threatening traditional French cuisine, building toward this revelation.

• factory
• artificial ingredients
• petroleum
• rubber
• evidence
• infiltration

During the TV show confrontation, Gérard successfully completes a blind taste test with Tricatel's products, demonstrating his knowledge despite his lack of formal training. Charles, despite having lost his sense of taste, proves his mastery by correctly identifying a red wine simply by observing it in the glass. Their combined success humiliates Tricatel and proves the authenticity of their culinary expertise.

Foreshadowing: Throughout the film, Gérard demonstrates hidden talents and resourcefulness, while Charles's decades of experience prove that true expertise transcends physical senses.

• blind tasting
• Gérard
• Charles
• wine
• challenge
• TV show

After learning that Charles has lost his sense of taste due to the food poisoning, Tricatel sees an opportunity for public humiliation. He demands that Charles participate in a blind tasting during the talk show, believing the incapacitated critic would fail and lose all credibility. This plan backfires when Charles and Gérard expose Tricatel's artificial food instead.

Foreshadowing: Lambert's surveillance of the Duchemins allows Tricatel to learn about Charles's condition and devise this humiliating scheme.

• humiliation
• talk show
• blind tasting
• taste loss
• Tricatel plan

At the inaugural dinner of the Académie française, Charles discovers his lost watch in the dish served to him. This watch was lost during their infiltration of Tricatel's factory when they were escaping with evidence. The watch's unexpected appearance serves as a symbolic resolution, representing how truth and integrity ultimately surface despite attempts at concealment.

Foreshadowing: The factory infiltration scene shows the characters scrambling to escape with evidence while being pursued by security, during which the watch could have fallen into the food supply.

• watch
• Académie française
• dinner
• resolution
• symbol

After the televised expose of Tricatel, Gérard considers resigning from the circus, likely due to the public attention and potential backlash from his involvement in the investigation. However, he changes his mind when he learns that Marguerite intends to stay in her position at Tricatel's (now rebranded or reformed) company, suggesting their relationship may continue.

Foreshadowing: Marguerite's presence throughout the journey, accompanying the Duchemins and helping them escape, establishes her as important to Gérard beyond just their professional relationship.

• Gérard
• circus
• resignation
• Marguerite
• relationship

Charles agrees to appear on the talk show hosted by Philippe Bouvard specifically because Tricatel was also invited. This was a strategic decision to gather and present evidence against Tricatel publicly. Charles wanted to confront the fast-food mogul directly and expose his harmful practices to a nationwide audience.

Foreshadowing: Charles's earlier vow to oppose Tricatel's plans to dominate the culinary world establishes his commitment to fighting the antagonist publicly.

• talk show
• Philippe Bouvard
• Tricatel
• confrontation
• evidence

The restaurant manager at the hotel where Charles stays was once the owner of a highly-rated restaurant that Charles had previously awarded stars but later downgraded. After losing his stars (and presumably his business reputation), the manager became employed by Tricatel. This personal vendetta motivates the manager to humiliate Charles by forcing him to eat leftovers.

Foreshadowing: Charles's restaurant guide is established as having significant power over restaurants' success, with owners going to great lengths to influence his reviews.

• restaurant manager
• stars
• revenge
• former restaurant
• conflict