86 replies to this topic

[roger desmond]

I am really tired of film critics who dismiss the "Julie" part of this film, suggesting that Julie and her husband were trivial as compared to Queen Julia. Both of them found themselves through the pursuit of a passion. Both had great spouses and I enjoyed watching the young couple practically making love to a bruschetta as much as I did watching Julia and Paul drooling over the waiter deboning the sole.

It is a brilliant film!

[Moopheus]

  And if the result is a new printing of her books, and (dare we hope?) a new emphasis on cooking, we'll all be the better for it.

It was reported in Publishers Lunch that Knopf has had to order another 75,000 copies of MAFC because of the movie. Not bad for a book that's already been continuously in print for almost 50 years.

[KristiB50]

I also enjoyed the movie tremendously. I agree the Julia parts overshadowed the Julie parts but I was interested in both.

And once the temps dip below 100 I am going to make Boeuf Bourguinon. Haven't had it in years and I don't know why.

[LindaK]

Saw it Saturday night and absolutely loved all of it.  Of course, as a huge fan of Julia Child, I'm biased.  Yesterday, I pulled volume one out and make Coq au Vin and a lemon tart.  Pulled out volume two and made her French bread.  It's good to discover her again.

Cook from it! Join the thread here in which we're cooking from her various books on August 15 to celebrate her birthday. Scroll to the mid/end of the thread to pick up the current discussion.

I'm looking forward to seeing the movie this weekend. It's probably no coincidence that our local PBS stations are broadcasting old episodes of the French Chef during their current fundraising campaigns.

As an aside, I also think it's fabulous that Hollywood, TV, newspapers, blogs, etc. are all talking about her--what does that say? A rock star, even after her death.

[HungryChris]

We saw the movie last w/e and enjoyed it quite a bit. I know that I enjoyed it more for having read "My Life in France", but it was orverall good in my opinion, regardless. I do think that MS did a masterful job in that there were times that I could close my eyes and think it was JC speaking. It did renew my interest in MTAoFC and inspired me to go find it and start reading it again.

HC

[mrsadm]

  And if the result is a new printing of her books, and (dare we hope?) a new emphasis on cooking, we'll all be the better for it.

It was reported in Publishers Lunch that Knopf has had to order another 75,000 copies of MAFC because of the movie. Not bad for a book that's already been continuously in print for almost 50 years.

If you head over to ebay the sales of MAFC are through the roof! Several booksellers have been savvy enough to save their first editions for this week.

[Tony Boulton]

If you head over to ebay the sales of MAFC are through the roof!  Several booksellers have been savvy enough to save their first editions for this week.

My wife and I saw it last night and enjoyed it. It was good entertainment and, being a gourmet kitchen store owner, I loved seeing all the copper pans and Wusthof knives in use. I'm not a fan of Le Creuset myself (much prefer Staub) and I chuckled to myself that, when she slept through the timer going off for the Boeuf Bouguignon, Julie would have been facing a written-off casserole as well as the contents.

I am hoping that the movie encourages lots of folks to start cooking seriously and they all rush out and buy new knives and cookware. We need some sort of stimulus and have had no help from Washington on our Main Street.

[nibor]

We saw this movie last night and liked it a lot - the Julie parts as well as Julia. It was much funnier than I expected. I was afraid my husband was only going along to be nice, but he really enjoyed it. Of course this morning he asked whether I owned Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and if so, why wasn't I using it ....

[David A. Goldfarb]

Saw it tonight and enjoyed it. Streep was impressive channeling Julia without letting it tip over into parody.

I think the Julia story is more compelling inherently, so it isn't surprising that some people find it unbalanced. Julie's issues seem more personal and Julia's are more world historical, taking place over a longer period of time, across continents, in contact with international and US domestic politics and major characters in the publishing world, and tracking the developing role of women outside the home before the 1960s. Julie's story is interesting, but she isn't the groundbreaking figure that Julia was.

Had dinner afterward at Balthazar, and my wife couldn't help but order the braised shortribs, which was essentially boeuf bourguignon made with shortribs.

Edited by David A. Goldfarb, 15 August 2009 - 06:14 PM.

[Rover]

Saw the movie with a friend today followed by a reception at Barbara-Jo's Books To Cooks. Loved the movie ... laughed and cried, so it it hit all the right notes for me. Walked over to the shop in glorious sunshine (after a very overcast day) to be greeted with a glasses of rose and platters of gourgeres.

Every copy of MTAOFC was sold in seconds, together with all the other Julia Child themed books.

We had mimosa salads and - Boeuf Bourguignon. The food was great and we toasted Julia's birthday - followed by beautifully iced birthday cupcakes filled with lemon curd and topped with a birthday candle.

It was a terrific way to both see the movie and salute Julia on her birthday.

[violetfox]

Dinner with a good friend at a lovely French BYO restaurant, followed by a showing of Julie & Julia was my entertainment this past Friday evening.  Couldn't have been better!  We snuck our leftover wine into the theater in my oversized handbag, bought an overpriced $3.50 bottled water with two plastic cups and enjoyed our wine as we laughed our way through the film.  A tad naughty, very Ab Fab, but loads of fun.  Meryl Streep was fabulous, as was Stanley Tucci as her husband Paul.  What a great love they shared.  And Amy Adams does a great job as Julie Powell.  The parallels between the two women's lives are both poignant and unexpected, given the difference in the times in which they live(d).  Yet, in the end, their love of food/cooking and it's enduring place in their lives is what binds them together.  It's a shame Julie never met her object of adoration, and vice versa.  I suspect they'd have gotten along famously despite the difference in their ages.

Hee hee. I also bought the overpriced bottle of water so that I could get a cup with some ice, but I had a wee flask of St Germain.
I liked the movie very much - Meryl Streep was even better than I expected. I'm still not entriely sure how I feel about the whole Julie project. It's an interesting idea and literary construction, but somehow I keep finding it a bit creepy.
I would definitely say that I'm kind of baffled by anyone who has trouble following Julia's recipes - you couldn't possibly ask for better, more clear instruction.
I also wished hard for more of Julia and Paul and their life in France.

[edited to add] It's pretty wonderful to recall that one extraordinary person with a huge creative dream could change the world - Julia made our world a far better, more delicious, more joyful place. Many of us here, I suspect, are here at eGullet because of her influence.

Edited by violetfox, 21 August 2009 - 04:31 AM.

[mizducky]

I just saw the movie yesterday, and reviewed it in this post in my blog.

Some additional thoughts, also responding indirectly to some of the thoughts in this thread: No, it wasn't "Gone With The Wind," nor meant to be; words more like "charming" and "delightful" come to mind. I think Streep did a terrific job portraying Julia -- goodness knows the grande dame was so larger than life (literally as well as personality-wise) that the risk of falling into caricature looms large; and goodness knows that Streep's incredible technical skills at mimicking voice/accent/gesture made the risk of falling into caricature even greater; but Streep avoids that by going beyond impersonation to successfully inhabiting the character and making her live. This was especially apparent to me when her Julia was interacting with people she loved, such as her husband -- wonderful performance by Stanley Tucci; they really made you believe that they were absolutely mad about each other. The scenes where Julia interacts with her visiting sister (played by Jane Lynch) also grabbed me this way; as I say in my blog review, the actresses and the script quickly capture in word and deed the fact that these sisters were allies in dealing with a world that viewed women of their height as social misfits -- without preaching or nagging. There's another little bit that I loved that I didn't mention in my blog review, a short, deftly acted scene in which Paul comforts Julia when she has a flash of grief over her inability to have children. Now that's some fine acting.

I confess Julie's half of the movie just couldn't grab me with the same level of engagement as Julia's -- it was finely done, with many cute moments; and of course as a food-obsessed blogger myself I'm not too proud to admit that I totally identified with all of Julie's reasons for blogging, including the self-affirmation bit. Hmmmm ... maybe it was because Julie's story was more in the conventional chick-flick genre, and all other things being equal, I'm normally not a chick-flick kinda gal. I did, however, get a hell of a kick out of the lobster-in-the-kitchen scene, including the choice of soundtrack song. Okay--maybe that was just way too easy, but again, I'm not too proud to admit it cracked me up.

Interestingly, while there was definitely gorgeous and evocative food going on, I was much more captured by the drama of Julia's story -- and Paul's, too, as he runs afoul of the McCarthy era. I am embarrassed to admit that I have not read Julia's memoir. I need to get my hands on that thing. I'd known the basics of her life story before, but now I really want to know all the details. That woman kicked butt.

[Pierogi]

..."There's another little bit that I loved that I didn't mention in my blog review, a short, deftly acted scene in which Paul comforts Julia when she has a flash of grief over her inability to have children. Now that's some fine acting."...

THAT scene broke my heart, several times over. I had tears in my eyes. It's glossed over in a way in Julia's book, which I think is in keeping with her character, but that scene was brilliant.

..."I am embarrassed to admit that I have not read Julia's memoir. I need to get my hands on that thing. I'd known the basics of her life story before, but now I really want to know all the details. That woman kicked butt."...

You must read it. If you loved and respected Julia at all before, you will do so 1000 times more after reading it. She was a Great Broad ! And *that* is the highest compliment I can give another woman.

Edited by Pierogi, 23 August 2009 - 10:24 PM.

[skipper10]

Julie and Julia turned "Mastering..." into a best seller...after 48 years.
http://www.nytimes.c...tnt&tntemail1=y

Now I can't help wondering, if Nora Ephron were to make a movie about Escoffier, staring George Clooney, would everybody rush to buy "The Escoffier Cookbook and Guide to the Fine Art of Cookery: For Connoisseurs, Chefs, Epicures Complete With 2973 Recipes" ?

skipper

[David A. Goldfarb]

I bet Charles Ranhofer would make an even better movie subject than Escoffier.

Edited by David A. Goldfarb, 24 August 2009 - 08:20 AM.

[mrsadm]

Now I can't help wondering, if Nora Ephron were to make a movie about Escoffier, staring George Clooney,  would everybody rush to buy "The Escoffier Cookbook and Guide to the Fine Art of Cookery: For Connoisseurs, Chefs, Epicures Complete With 2973 Recipes" ?

[jgm]

The account of what Paul went through in the McCarthy era -- especially when he was called to Washington -- was extremely interesting. That was one of the really memorable parts of the book to me.

A little off topic, but worth saying: Jacques Pepin's autobiography has as many wonderful moments as Julia's. I won't even attempt to compare the two, for they are very different stories, but I would still highly recommend it.

[MaxH]

...I can't help wondering, if Nora Ephron were to make a movie about Escoffier, staring George Clooney,  would everybody rush to buy "The Escoffier Cookbook and Guide to the Fine Art of Cookery: For Connoisseurs, Chefs, Epicures Complete With 2973 Recipes" ?

Yikes! Yet another repackaging of the Guide Culinaire. In the fad for switching titles with author names, a publisher put out an edition titled "Escoffier: etc etc" instead of Guide Culinaire (its traditional title, under which the English translation has been sold, and cited, the longest). Title skipper10 gave looks like a thinned-down version of Escoffier's full 5012-recipe Guide Culinaire, available (under that title) in English for decades.

More in the separate Book Thread (last entry 2007) on the various titles under which the GC now appears in English. (Earlier link, "Guide Culinaire" above, is to the traditional version, on Amazon, including my comments.)

But I agree with David Goldfarb: Ranhofer might make the better biodrama. (Escoffier codified French cooking -- interesting to cooks and historians. Ranhofer, among other things, fought with the Delmonico family and published their recipes in reprisal. That'll sell more tickets. Maybe with Armin Mueller-Stahl ...)

[maggiethecat]

And we could have steamy scenes of nineteenth century New Orleans, because that's where Charles started cooking in the U.S.

My daughter loved the movie and she was almost as interested in the Julie saga as she was in Julia's life. She's a very busy thirty-something blogger herself, and she thought the Julie bits were amusingly accurate.

[LindaK]

The weekend of Auust 15 turned into quite the Julia-fest. Saw the movie Saturday morning, cooked from MTAFC into the evening to celebrate Julia's birthday. Saw the movie again on Sunday.

Though you might assume otherwise from the two viewings, I'm going to be the contrarian here and say that while I was entertained I was also disappointed. The whole film was too light and fluffy for its subject matter. Julia Child's story was not very well served by the romantic comedy genre, in my view. So much of substance and depth glossed over in quick, superficial scenes. Fine for the Julie side of the movie but a completely wasted opportunity for the more compelling tale of Julia and Paul Child. Marrying the two stories was a clever story-telling device but, let's face it, Julie Powell's story didn't deserve equal billing. Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci stole the show, not only because of their excellent performances but because of the raw material of Julia and Paul's story. Oh, what I wouldn't have given for two hours of THAT...

Streep's performance was superb, despite a few scenes which came uncomfortably close to caricature. Still, there were more than a few moments when I felt like Julia was there. That's what made me go back the next day.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I've been looking a bit at Julie Powell's blog, and my wife has been reading her book, and while it doesn't exactly measure up to the whole life experience of Julia Child, there's more to her story than was included in the movie.

While Julia Child's desire to have a child (as it were) appears in a subtle way in the film, it's a major topic of Julie Powell's book (but not the blog, as far as I've read) that is left out of the film. I can see why it is left out, because it would have changed the focus of the story and could have added a potentially confusing plotline, but in terms of understanding the reality behind all this, as opposed to the story, it's worth knowing about.

The thing I found interesting about the blog is that, after skimming the first few months entries, she's figuring out a new genre of storytelling. Of course there is a long history of public diaristic writing, but the immediacy of the interactive component of the blog is something new. A writer could publish a kind of diary/editorial in a weekly and read select responses to it over time in other publications, but the possibility of anyone sitting down and writing a blog and anyone responding to it at once is new. Her first posts are mechanical and almost perfunctory, but eventually a personal voice breaks through, and it's about her own quirks and neuroses and struggles that are manifested through her writing about the cooking project. That isn't something that's easy to translate into film, but is interesting, at least to me, on its own terms.

[chuchelo]

Saw the movie and agree with those critics who said that one spends the "Julie" part of the movie waiting for it to be about "Julia" again. Meryl Streep was dead brill as Julia. Her voice was pitch perfect!!! Now I want to know so much more about Julia Child! (And much less about Julie Powell -- she struck me as meh.)

[howardlong]

Not sure if this is the right place to mention it, but as a diner and only a very occasional cook, I found the Julie and Julia film on general release in the UK to be right up my street. It's not going to to tax the brain cells too much, and neither is it going to excite those looking for fifteen minute car chases. I was taken there on Saturday by my neighbour without knowing what it was that I was going to see, although she knows I like me grub. Definitely recommended viewing for any foodie.

Cheers, Howard

[Doc]

Thanks for the tip, Howard. I hope to view when it reaches DVD rental.

[ChickenStu]

To read from the necronomicon.........

I hated that Meryl Streep played Julia Child. Her voice was too high anyway.

Julia Child disliked her for her role in the alar scare in the 80s, and they had very different views on food....which would be fine other then the fact that streep sits on her high horse telling people to eat organic even though many americans still eat processed foods constantly, not even fresh foods at all. So cant we start with helping people to eat fresh food?

Jamie Oliver is the closest thing we have to Julia today, telling and helping people to eat fresh foods and foods in moderation.

[Jaymes]

I hated that Meryl Streep played Julia Child. Her voice was too high anyway.

I wondered about that, too. But then read Russ Parson's comments in the L.A. Times. Russ knew Julia pretty well and he had this to say:

"Meryl Streep is astonishing. The way she captures Julia Child is something special. Streep inhabits her in a way that is eerie. Watch her move: Pay attention to the way she holds her elbows and cocks her head. That's Julia.

"More important, while Streep certainly gets Julia's sometimes loopy enthusiasm, she also gets the deep seriousness that was obvious only to those who knew her fairly well. This is no Dan Aykroyd skit; this is Julia Child with gravitas, which is to say the real Julia Child. In fact, leaving the theater and looking at the poster, I had to remind myself that Julia Child did NOT have Meryl Streep's face."

Not only was Streep's portrayal the main thing I liked about the film, she and Tucci were pretty much the only thing I liked about the film. Amy Adams is likable enough so her bits were at least watchable. But, for me anyway, they were not intriguing or particularly enjoyable. As Russ went on to say, likability was very important as Amy was playing a role about a woman whose main literary achievement was "one long whine," but I don't think that likability was enough to lift the Julie portions to the same level as the Julia. For those that find Julie an intriguing character and point out that her blog (or book) gained wide interest, I say that the only reason her blog gained much interest at all was because she was cooking her way though an iconic book from an iconic woman. Had Julie not attached herself like a barnacle to this particular star, nobody would have paid her the slightest bit of attention. She's already fading fast from public view. She's still writing, but nobody cares. We'll remember Julia forever. Julie not so much.

Back to Streep. If her performance was good enough for Russ Parsons, it's good enough for me. I'd like to see an entire movie about Julia's amazing life with Streep playing the whole thing.



___________________________

Edited by Jaymes, 10 October 2010 - 10:17 AM.

[andiesenji]

I would also like to see a movie about Julia's life after the publication of Mastering the Art--
I think it is fascinating how her show went from fairly local interest to a country-wide and the world-wide phenomena.

I have all of her books, all of the episodes of "The French Chef" available on DVD and have several of the videos of Julia cooking with other chefs; and an older VHS tape with Graham Kerr is signed by both of them.

And I recently pre-ordered "As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto" - it's due out December 1.


I loved the movie and just a few minutes into it, totally forgot that was Meryl Streep on the screen. She totally captured the essence of Julia in her early days.
I remember watching The French Chef when it was actually being produced and it was her enthusiasm for food that came across every time.
This was the persona that Meryl Streep presented, right on the dime.