Chef Gusteau Was Controlled By A Rat

Pixar's Ratatouille is all about Remy the rat proving that anyone can cook. However, he was not the first rodent to display his culinary prowess.

A genius Ratatouille theory claims Chef Gusteau was also controlled by a rat under his hat, similar to how Remy and Linguini operate together. In Pixar's beloved animation Ratatouille, Gusteau is a famous chef who supposedly died after his restaurant received a bad review. Yet while Ratatouille claims that Gusteau was a master in the kitchen, there are clues to suggest that he was not the genius that everyone thought he was.

Ratatouille tells the story of Remy, a rat with big dreams of becoming a chef. Remy is frequently shown sneaking into an older woman's home to steal ingredients and watch his idol, the late Chef Gusteau, on the television - taking Gusteau’s mantra “anyone can cook" to heart. With encouragement from an imaginary Gusteau, Remy flees to Paris to follow his dreams, where he befriends Linguini - kicking off a chain of events that results in Remy opening a successful bistro in honor of the late Gusteau and his teachings.

However, one Ratatouille theory explains (via Reddit) that, like Linguini, Gusteau was, in fact, controlled by a rat. In a scene at the beginning of the movie, magazine covers that Gusteau appears on are panned across by the camera. In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, on one of the covers, it appears that Gusteau’s hat is lifted and that there is a rat on top of his head. Furthermore, when Chef Skinner steals a strand of hair from Gusteau’s hat and gives it to his lawyer to perform a DNA test, the lawyer returns to say that the hair was rodent hair. This theory compellingly then goes on to suggest that Gusteau did not die because his restaurant got a bad review but instead died from heartbreak after the death of his rat friend - in keeping with Ratatouille's sentiments.

In Ratatouille’s opening joke-style scene, magazine covers that feature Gusteau wearing his chef's hat are featured prominently, and he can be seen smiling on the first cover. However, on the second cover, his hat is raised, Gusteau looks panicked, and there is a faint image of something small on top of his head. If it was indeed a rat, it mirrors how Remy sits atop Linguini’s head - perhaps illuminating why Gusteau’s mantra is “anyone can cook.” In this way, the theory posits that Gusteau was not a good chef - he only became good after the rat controlled him - meaning Gusteau’s mantra could apply to himself and would serve to make others believe in anyone’s ability to cook, regardless of their size or species.

The Gusteau theory is given more credence during the scene where Chef Skinner tries to prove that Linguini is Gusteau’s son and heir to the restaurant. To conduct a DNA test, Skinner takes a hair from Gusteau’s chef hat. When the lawyer returns, he says that the only hair he tested was rodent hair. Throughout the film, Skinner does not give the lawyer any of Linguini’s hair or his hat to analyze Linguini’s DNA. Instead, it is presumed that Skinner used a saliva sample from Linguini after they shared a bottle of wine. Thus, the rodent hair the lawyer refers to must have come from Gusteau's hat - further cementing the idea that a rat was controlling Gusteau in the kitchen all along.

While the evidence for Gusteau having help from a rat is hard to deny in and of itself, this Reddit theory goes further by hypothesizing that Gusteau died from heartache after the death of his rat friend. This is possible because if Gusteau could not cook himself, he would not be able to live up to his great reputation after the death of his culinary mastermind, with the final straw being Anton Ego’s bad rating. Ego was likely served food that Gusteau made without the rat's help, forcing Gusteau to realize that he could not continue without his rat controlling him in the kitchen. Although this theory makes the death of Gusteau even sadder, it also reinforces the movie's theme of “anyone can cook.” Remy was undoubtedly special in the kitchen; however, Gusteau’s rat theory proves that Remy was not one of a kind and that there could be many more animal chefs in the world of Ratatouille.

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