“Amusing title... "Anyone Can Cook". What is even more amusing is that Gusteau actually seems to believe it. I, on the other hand, take cooking seriously, and no, I don't think anyone can do it.”
Anton Ego is the former secondary antagonist of the 2007Disney·Pixar animated feature film Ratatouille. He is a cutthroat food critic who was made infamous for his scathing reviews and cold exterior. Despite his generally negative criticism, Ego is the most acclaimed food connoisseur in Paris.
Ego is first characterized as a harsh and fierceful food critic, being nicknamed "The Grim Eater", upholding great expectations for food, becoming Paris' most acclaimed food critic. He has nothing but contempt for the people around him combined with a cruel sense of humor and something of a sadistic streak. Unlike Skinner, however, Ego is not presented as a genuinely villainous man, but somewhat antagonistic to the restaurant. Ego is extremely passionate about food, claiming, "I don't like food, I love it", and claims to refuse to swallow food that he doesn't like, which explains why he's so thin.
He is portrayed man of great taste and distinction, showing knowledge of fine wines as well as food, being intelligent and sophisticated and, in terms of dress sense, completing his dark blue dapper suit, indigo pants, and a chic purple scarf.
Ego shows a great amount of humility and indeed sentiment after eating Remy's dish of ratatouille, thus learning the secret of Gusteau's philosophy, choosing to invest in Linguini's new restaurant.
Role in the film[]
Ego is an imperious and acerbic food critic, whose reviews can make or break a restaurant. He adamantly rejects Gusteau's belief that "anyone can cook", and was a firm critic of the idealist chef. Following a negative review from Ego, Gusteau's restaurant lost one of its five stars. This irreparably broke Gusteau's heart, and he died soon after; the restaurant then lost another star with his death. In his career-killing review, he compared Chef Gusteau to the Italian-American Chef Boyardee, who like Gusteau was also a well-known and successful chef in his home country who was reduced to a face on prepared foods after his death.
When he had heard that Gusteau's was rising in popularity with Remy as the cook, he personally offers the most amount of time to a challenge to the restaurant in which they must deliver "their best shot" to impress him. Remy chose to serve Ego a dish of ratatouille, which is so brilliant it reminds Ego of his mother's cooking. Tears flow from his eyes, and when he requests to see the chef, Linguini and Colette tell him that he'll have to wait until after the customers have gone. When the closing hour is struck, Linguini reveals Remy. Ego initially believes it to be a jest, but after hearing Linguini explain and viewing Remy perfectly recreate the dish, he thanks them for the meal and quietly leaves. A changed man, Ego finally understands what Gusteau meant: While not everyone can be an artist, true talent can be found out in a few in the most unusual places. He presents a shining review of the restaurant, in particular praising Remy without mentioning his identity. Ego then loses his job and credibility as a critic when Gusteau's is closed down due to the presence of rats, despite not mentioning them at all in his review. He now leads a successful and much happier life as an investor and regular patron of the small bistro La Ratatouille, with queues around the block and where the cook is a small rat.
Anton Ego appears to be loosely based on Giulio Andreotti, the Italian Prime Minister and subject of the film Il Divo. They are very similar in both speech and physical appearance, and both strike fear into those whose lives they can influence.
However, his appearance was modeled after Louis Jouvet.
Ego's skin becomes less pale after he takes the first bite of the ratatouille. This symbolizes his reformation into a more sympathetic character as he is reminded of his mother’s cooking.
Ego's face is also fuller and healthier-looking at the end of the movie, symbolizing how he is eating better since he is no longer a food critic.
When Ego is told by Ambrister that Gusteau's has become popular, he almost performs a spit take with the wine he was drinking. The reason he didn't spit it all out was because, after glimpsing at the wine label, he realized it was a fine wine and, knowing how expensive it is, decided to swallow it instead of letting it go to waste.
At one point in the film, Bomb Voyage can be seen as a mime in the background. There is a young boy watching him do his tricks, whose model is re-used from a young Anton Ego.
Anton's office is shaped as a coffin and his typewriter seems to have a skull motif on it, setting the mood of the character.
Despite being French, the name "Anton" is German, Dutch, Scandinavian, Slavic, and Romanian rather than French. Many French people use the name "Antoine" which is also a form of the English name, "Anthony".
Ironically, the name means "beyond praise" despite his critical nature.
His surname, Ego, is from the Latin meaning of "I" or "self", but is nowadays associated with egotism (narcissism) or egoism (self-interest). This would allude to a certain level of vanity and arrogance on the part of Anton that is later redeemed from him at the end of the movie.
