Vatel's choice of method to end his life

Vatel chose a sword for various reasons.

1.First,only noblemen could have swords in the ancien regime and Vatel had been ennobled earlier so the sword was a sign of his relatively elevated status(remember he could have just used a knife). Vatel was promoted earlier to the minor nobility and granted the right to carry a sword. This order of the nobility was very low ranking and included those who were promoted for service--like the finance minister Colbert in the movie(note that he, too, is dressed in an expensive but plain black suit like Vatel) and they were of similar status; they were not born nobles but were made more elevated than mere peasants. Hence, sometimes Vatel wears a wig which is also a sign of nobility and wears black suits. This is also why Gorville states that Vatel "will eventually end up a Viscount"--that is the natural trajectory for those serving the Royal family in this way as they kept on being promoted as they aged. This is what happened to Gourville after the death of Vatel(see my long post on this board under Historical Accuracy Spoilers thread where I tell what happened to all the main characters in VATEL)as he eventually became a courtier and was hosting marquises and duchesses later in life. The real Vatel was concerned with his honor and the sword was a sign of his status--he was no ordinary cook but one who served only the highest nobility and royalty(his boss,Conde, was the first Prince of the Blood royal and was a cousin of the king).

In reality, the real life Vatel killed himself because he felt he had failed the king and his employer Prince Conde because he thought the fish did not arrive on time--and that the banquet would be ruined. The real Vatel probably would have loved to go to Versailles and take over from Louis XIV's famed chef Careme. In the movie, however, they tried to elevate Vatel's motives and bring social commentary about the class system into it instead of depicting what was a severe tempremental/depressive chef freakout exaceberated by sleep deprivation. If one reads the memoirs and letters about the incident, Vatel was very concerned with his status and was afraid he could not survive with his honor intact if his meals did not come off perfectly as he would be humilated as a great chef. He is also depicted as having gone without sleep or rest for days in all the accounts of the incidents including Madame Sevigne's and there is note of some previous glitches during the royal stay at Chantilly(mainly because as the movie noted, "they gave the wrong numbers!" of guests).

2.Roman generals, etc, were said to "fall on their swords" when they committed suicide to preserve their honor--they literally fell on their swords and so determined their own deaths before their enemies could. Vatel was going out the same way. Women were said to use poison--ie like Cleopatra. In general, women have more often been linked to death by poison as it is a more nonviolent method. Many historical female figures like Catherine de Medici, Lucrezia Borgia,etc, were linked with poisoning. Even today, men are more often noted to use violent means to kill themselves or others while women are more often associated with things like drug overdoses to commit suicide or in rare female murder cases, to poisoning others.