What is the significance of sauce in Mickey 17? Here's the big reveal

Bong Joon-ho's newest directorial Mickey 17 has been receiving immense praise upon its release on March 7, 2025. The film stars talented cast members including Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, and many more.

After making the iconic Oscar-winning Parasite (2019), Bong Joon-ho comes with yet another incredible venture with Mickey 17.

This futuristic film addresses societal systems of oppression including colonialism, racism and classism, with a brilliant use of metaphors. It is derived from Edward Ashton's novel named Mickey7.

Set in 2054, Mickey 17 follows the plot of a man named Mickey who has been assigned to travel to another planet to enable colonisation in that sphere. However, in this mission, clones of the "expendable" Mickey can be made if he dies, without his memory getting tampered with.

However, there is an important mention of 'sauce' in the film. In Mickey 17, the meaning of sauce is not limited to a mere condiment, but is far beyond.

In Mickey 17, sauce is a representative of privilege and higher status. In the film, the character of Ylfa Marshall identifies sauce to be "the true litmus test of civilization".

Let us decode further about the role and significance of 'sauce' in Mickey 17.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers of Mickey 17, as well as the author's opinions. Reader discretion is advised.

What is the significance of sauce in Mickey 17?

Throughout the entire film, Toni Collette's character in the film, Ylfa Marshall, has a fascination for sauce. Ylfa is the wife of Kenneth Marshall (played by Mark Ruffalo), a political leader seeped with fascist ideals. Kenneth Marshall desires to colonise a planet named 'Niflheim'. In that globe, he wishes to create a brand new set of a 'racially pure' society of people.

In the journey of travelling across space to reach the planet, it will take a lengthy period of four years. To survive in this space expedition, the crew members need to be very economical about energy conservation.

They have a very sparse amount of calories to spare. So in this quest for survival, the members are slapped with restrictions, including in terms of food consumption and also forbiddance from engaging in coitus.

There comes the existence of sauce. Displaying a skewed sense of priorities, Ylfa Marshall is seen making sauce instead, whilst the rest of the crew are struggling to survive due to the lack of proper food.

Sauce is certainly not sufficient for a person to survive. But there she goes on trying out recipes of sauces and offering them, as Ylfa utters-

"Sauce is the true litmus test of civilisation".

What does the sauce symbolise in the film?

In Mickey 17, sauce stands for superiority.

The whole scene with sauce serves as a symbol of dehumanisation and disregard of human life by oppressive systems. The crew are seen as nothing more than testing lab rats. The crew, including Mickey, are considered to be dispensable.

Hence, their suffering is not even considered or acknowledged by the Marshalls. They rub off their grotesque display of privilege and sadism at the ones whom they are exploiting. The 'sauce' symbolism feels reminiscent of the infamous idiom "Let them eat cake".

In the course of the film, food plays an incredibly vital role in its whole storytelling. Before Mickey was out in the role of an expendable, he and his friend Timo had failed in their food business. Having the burden of hefty loans, Mickey is forced to go on this life-hazardous space expedition.

In Mickey 17, food also represents division, hierarchy, and exploitation. Food, the basic need for survival, is an opulent prerogative only reserved to be used (read: abused) by the privileged class. In the film, it is shown that the ones who have access to food only eat for the sake of it, not out of survival alone.