Julie and Julia - the movie

[KatieLoeb]

Audrey:

I missed that, but not living in NYC I'm not entirely sure what he looks like. That is definitely a clever touch, though. I particularly enjoyed Julie and her hubby making the pilgrimage to the Smithsonian exhibit of Julia's kitchen toward the end of the film. Again, I think it's a shame the two never met. Not just to satisfy Julie Powell's adoration, but because they really were so very alike in so many ways. I'm certain they would've had a lively conversation and shared some cooking tips. And tipped their glasses to each other. I think once Julia Child realized that Ms. Powell meant no disrespect (in fact, quite the opposite) they could've been good friends. At least I'd like to believe that...

[CKatCook]

I saw the movie yesterday and loved it. I thought it captured the essance of what these two women went threw in their lives and I loved how the movie really did show the work that into "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". It was amazing how much their lives paralleled each others. Academy material NO, but a good movie none the less.

[Moopheus]

I saw the movie the other night, and on the whole I enjoyed it, though I have to agree with some of the reviewers--Amy Adams (through no fault of here own, I think--she's a talented actress) gets the short end of the stick here. But with Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci in 1950s France, there's just no way the Julie Powell character is not going to be overshadowed by that.

[Jean Blanchard]

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.

[mrsadm]

I thought the movie was incredible fun. Way better than that stupid book (sorry but I found the book to be boring and lame). Just enjoy it and don't take it too seriously!

[Lindacakes]

I was rather disappointed in a film I waited a long time to see and rushed out to see the first showing.

I hated the J/J book -- I listened to it as an audio book on a cross country trip and after the first couple of pages, I threw the disks out the window, into the corn fields.

I was prepared to not particularly like the Julie parts but I found them difficult to sit through and hated every time the movie switched back to the present.

There's a lot I liked about the Julia parts, but I thought the structure of the movie was lacking and would much rather have seen a straight biography of Julia Child with more background information in it.

I'm looking forward to renting it on DVD and skipping the present day scenes. Some of the period details, the clothes, were very nice indeed. Louisette Berthold's manicure, for instance, that red!

I, too, was inspired to go home and cook, but I made a Pavlova instead. I did take MTAFC off my shelf, read quite a bit, and fondle it.

[MaxH]

I ... would much rather have seen a straight biography of Julia Child with more background information in it.

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If anyone has not yet seen the straight biography made a few years before her death (it's mentioned earlier in this thread), the North American DVD was released in 2005 as ISBN 0767082141 . (Googling on the word pair, ISBN 0767082141, finds copies for sale.) Distributed by New Video for the Arts and Entertainment (A&E) cable network and has A&E product number AAE-72809. It's also the sort of feature that public libararies like to keep in their video collections.

[rickster]

There's a lot I liked about the Julia parts, but I thought the structure of the movie was lacking and would much rather have seen a straight biography of Julia Child with more background information in it. 

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Well, in book form, there's also Julia's memoir, My Life In France, that was the basis for the part of the film about her, plus there's a biography of her whole life, Appetite For Life.

[McDuff]

We went Friday night when it opened. I enjoyed it. Not as much actual cooking as I would have liked, but I doubt the average movie goer would much care if one floured before braising or not. I didn't mind the present day scenes. The J/J book I found to almost unreadable, just too much blah blah blah. I just picked up Julia's biography from the library and have spent some time recently browsing through MTAFC, kicking myself in the butt for not attending a meeting of the Professional Pastry Guild of New England several years ago at Julia's house in Cambridge.

[Music]

I eagerly went to the first showing on Friday afternoon and loved it. Meryl Streep is always a wonderful actress, but her representation of Julia's voice was so accurate. Boeuf Bourguinon made a couple of appearances in the film, and I came home, got out my Volume I of Mastering the Art and found the recipe. I have cooked from the book, but have not done that one. When I opened the book, I discovered an inscription from two friends who had given the book to me at Christmas in 1976. At the end of the movie, it said that the book is in its 49th printing. After this movie, they may have to start on the 50th.

[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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 August 16, 2009 by David A. Goldfarb (log)

[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.

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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 August 21, 2009 by violetfox (log)

[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 August 24, 2009 by Pierogi (log)

[skipper10]

Julie and Julia turned "Mastering..." into a best seller...after 48 years.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/business...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 August 24, 2009 by David A. Goldfarb (log)