Julie & Julia: The review
Posted on | August 11, 2009
I tried hard, very hard, to get tickets to the screening. But, alas, we only moved here just before school started, so I didn’t have any contacts for this sort of thing so, yeah, no tickets.
So I waited for the opening. And then the heavens smiled on me . . .
“In France, cooking is a serious art form and a national sport.”
~ Julia Child
Coming home from school footsore from being your what-can-I-get-for-you-today waitress while wearing chef’s clogs, I found two free invitations to the screening just sitting on a park bench.
A sign from the heavens. Of course.
Excited? We were planning to go, anyway, but then, there they were, two invitations to the screening just sitting on a park bench one block from my home, waiting for me to see them for the gold they were.
I snatched them up and flew home, just flew home I tell you.
“I was 32 when I started cooking. Up until then, I just ate.”
~ Julia Child
Yeah, the screening was last month. Doh! Of course; no one does a screening on opening night.
You know, I used to work in the film industry. So there is really no excuse. Really.
Sigh.
But, hey, someone from my husband’s office gave him a gift card to the cinema (thanks!).
So it turned out to be a smile, after all!
“In department stores, so much kitchen equipment is bought indiscriminately by people who just come in for men’s underwear.”
~ Julia Child
If you don’t have time to read the whole post, let me give you my three most pressing thoughts about Julie & Julia up front.
First, Meryl Streep is totally amazing as Julia Child. So much so that I wish the entire picture had been about Julia Child, not just half.
Second, many of the actors chew, slurp, munch, and gulp their way through the entire movie. And, chewing, slurping, munching, and gulping through a good amount of the dialogue, means I get to see and hear everything they are eating.
And I don’t want to see, let alone hear, what anyone is eating. Ever.
Third, yes, there are culinary gaffes. I list a few, below.
Still with me? Okay. Then here are the details.
“Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”
~ Julia Child
Meryl Streep was wonderful, just wonderful as Julia Child: Vivacious, delightful, fascinating, and totally, totally convincing.
And here’s the interesting part. A long time ago, at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, I saw the Meryl Streep with two of her children. And she is tiny. Not only is she nowhere near as tall as Julia Child, but she is positively petite.
But with everything from incredibly high heels (those spectator pumps she wears at the end of the movie are just divine) to the way she carries her body (notice that she always sits erectly while her husband slumps) to the clever use of the camera and perspective (see how often she is tall in the foreground while other actors appear shorter in the background), you totally believe she has Julia Child’s height.
It’s the character, however, that she really captures. Julia Child’s character as well as her distinctive voice.
Is she believable as Julia Child? Totally. Is she engaging as Julia Child? Thoroughly. Is she just wonderful as Julia Child? Completely.
So much so, in fact, that my husband and I both left the theater agreeing that Julie & Julia would have been better if it focused entirely on Meryl Streep / Julia Child. Not that the Julia Powell character was bad. Just that she was not nearly as fascinating as Julia Child.
I doubt many people could be.
“Life itself is the proper binge.”
~ Julia Child
I’m a big fan of Amy Adams. I adored her, especially, in Sunshine Cleaning. And she was just fine in Julie & Julia, too. But, compared to Meryl Streep’s dynamic Julia Child, her character was just, well, let’s face it, it would be difficult for anyone to outshine Julia Child.
And she did not. She didn’t even come close.
Which is why I think the movie would have been better if it just focused on the effervescent Julia Child.
“I wouldn’t keep him around long if I didn’t feed him well.”
~ Julia Child
Is it me or does Paul Child come across as rather gay? I don’t mind him being gay, if he was in real life, but was he?
Whether he was gay or not, he was wonderfully supportive of Julia Child. I think he was lovely.
As for Eric Powell, while he was predominately supportive of his wife, he did have moments of extreme denseness. Such as diving, head-first, into her boeuf Bourguignon (I won’t elaborate, I don’t want to spoil the movie, but you’ll catch the moment when it comes).
And, alas, it was the Eric Powell character that did the vast and vocal majority of the chewing, slurping, munching, and gulping.
So his appearance on screen was never eagerly anticipated.
“Non-cooks think it’s silly to invest two hours’ work in two minutes’ enjoyment; but if cooking is evanescent, so is the ballet.”
~ Julia Child
All the supporting cast was wonderful, but I especially adored the Simone Beck (Simca) character. She just struck me as a sweet person. And I especially loved her asking Julia what Marshmallow Fluff was.
I wonder that, myself!
“It’s so beautifully arranged on the plate you know someone’s fingers have been all over it.”
~ Julia Child
The food was gorgeous, totally gorgeous. The deboned sole at the beginning of the movie was a work of art (I read somewhere they used a Chef to play the waiter so the fish would be properly deboned). And the boeuf Bourguignon was such a gorgeously rich mahogany that you could almost smell the intoxicating aroma of it.
And no surprise that it was amazing food. After all, it was styled by Susan Spungen who used to be Martha Stewart’s food editor.
But there are some culinary gaffes.
First, if you check the the Julie & Julia Website, none of the recipes are actually Julia Child’s. In fact, none are even from Mastering the Art of French Cooking! The roast chicken, for example, is from the Union Square Café Cookbook. Very disappointing.
Second, after all this time in cooking school, you have to know I could spot a few cooking details that were wrong. Such as Julia Child’s terrible knife skills when cutting that enormous pile of onions. If any cook were to wield a knife with such dangerously reckless abandon, they would be instantly banned from kitchens, everywhere. Seriously.
But the biggest culinary gaffe was when the Julie Powell character was dispatching the lobster with the knife. That lobster was most surely already dead. How do I know? That damn lobster never moved. And I know they move.
And how do I know that?
Because I recently killed a lobster myself at school. And that poor thing twitched so violently it was all I could do to hang onto it. Ditto every lobster killed by every student.
“Moderation. Small helpings. Sample a little bit of everything. These are the secrets of happiness and good health.”
~ Julia Child
Finally, I’ve read some fairly harsh things about Julie Powell’s blog, The Julie/Julia Project, as well as her book, Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen, but I gotta tell you, I thoroughly enjoyed reading both and am happy to recommend them.
(Julie, I’d send you link love if The Julie/Julia Project blog was still active. But as it is not, I’ll send you good wishes, instead.)
“If you’re afraid of butter, just use cream.”
~ Julia Child
I think the problem with this movie is that the director is not sure who or what this movie is about.
I think it is supposed to be about Julie Powell and how Julia Child had a tremendous impact on her life.If this is true, and this is supposed to be Julie Powell’s story, then we should get more screen time with Julie Powell and far more insight into her life.
But we don’t.
I don’t who know got how much screen time; I certainly didn’t clock anything. But I do know that the movie reserves two of the most powerful cinematic moments, the opening and closing, for Julia Child. I also know that Julia Child changes and blossoms, becoming an accomplished cook and author before our eyes, while Julie Powell, despite the fact that she says she has changed, ends the movie as the same timid government worker she was at the start.
That, coupled with the fact that it was the Julia Child character that was the more fascinating, by far, of the two, (and it was an unfair contest all along; after all, as a writer myself, I know that the excitement in writing is a dull-to-watch internal occurrence while the excitement in cooking is a fun-to-watch external event), made this Julia Child’s movie.
And the problem is, while there is a logical place for Julia Child in a movie about Julia Powell, there is no logical place for Julie Powell in a movie about Julia Child. Leaving poor Julie Powell in the uncomfortable position as comparatively dull appendage.
So should you see Julie & Julia? I still say “yes,” if only for the scenes with Julia Child. And the food. That glorious, glorious food.
Bon Apetit!
Comments
10 Responses to “Julie & Julia: The review”
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August 11th, 2009 @ 6:20 am
Agree so much with your thoughts. The slurping I did appreciate was the bruschetta-as it totally looked delish!! Have been googling Paul as well, as the gay issue hit me too. However, I think it seems he was truly a sensuous man in every sense. Also LOVED Julia’s sister. Mainly agree that they needed to give us a bit more to go on with Julie in the way of backstory, since she was sharing the screen with Divine Ms. Childs/Steep. So glad to have seen it.
August 11th, 2009 @ 6:24 am
I know you don’t have much time for pleasure reading, but this article in Vanity Fair is a good read and gives you some insight on Julia Child’s life before France: http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/08/julia-child200908
Also–excellent review! I’m certain I would feel the same. I’ve not seen the movie, but all the bits I’ve seen with Meryl Streep makes me think that you get absolutely lost in the character and forget it’s her. Which is the sign of a truly gifted actress. I look forward to it. And I’ll have to leave the husband at home, it seems because he absolutely cannot tolerate the sound of someone eating in a movie or on tv. Drives him insane.
As for the lobster, I am thankful for that gaffe. I don’t need to see how that really happens, thankyouverymuch.
August 11th, 2009 @ 8:07 am
Thank-you for writing a review of Julie and Julia.
I actually avoided much of the mainstream reviews and the hype Sony put out for the film, save for a handful of blog posts or tweets from some of my favourite local and not-so local food bloggers: @frombecca, @whisk_food_blog, and @kitchenmage.
It was your determinations I was awaiting and the wait was worthwhile. Your review was both fair and insightful.
That said, I agree with you about the movie. I recommend it, but cringed at some of the Julie portions.
While the character was played well by Adams, she was a poor foil to Streep’s Julia. Julia spent a lifetime honing her art and craft. She redefined American cuisine. Julie spent a year, spewing forth hastily cobbled together rantings, some extremely narcissistic, and won a book deal. Their two stories can only connect very loosely.
I am also troubled by how the Julie character may affect how food bloggers are viewed. Many have no wish to ever be published, only to share their ideas and triumphs in the kitchen, professional or otherwise.
Is it bad that I held on to the very slight hope of seeing a glimpse of a young Jacques Pepin in the movie?
August 11th, 2009 @ 3:15 pm
It’s true, I wish it were more or only Julia’s parts that were in the movie. Julie Powell, the character, pales in comparison to Julia Child, so full of life! Amy Adams was wonderful, but there is just an obvious imbalance with the characters being “paralleled” it seems. I’ve read “My Life in France”, but not Julie & Julia or the original blog that inspired the book. I’m not sure I would be as entertained, especially after the movie. I browsed through the book in the bookstore but it didn’t interest me enough. Perhaps I’ll have a second look.
August 11th, 2009 @ 9:37 pm
Just finished the book, and have a girl’s night planned to see the film, when we return from our family beach week. I absolutely agree with Don’s comments, that Julia spent a lifetime honing her craft, and Julie Powell spent a year. I have mixed feelings about the book–some parts were laugh out loud funny, but in others, I did not understand what her friend’s multi-orgasmic evening had to do with making aspic, and why she felt the need to spill it. I felt like it rabbit-trailed a lot. I do wonder about the affect this will have on food bloggers, as well. That being said, however, props must be given to Ms. Powell, in that Julie & Julia is the first movie to be based upon a blog, and she has thrust Julia Child to the forefront of America’s culinary consciousness once more.
August 11th, 2009 @ 11:31 pm
I love J&J and can’t wait to see it again with my Mom next week.
I, too, wished the movie was just about Julia, such a fascinating woman with such a rich, full life. And I loved Paul, though no gay radar at all from me.
Streep was fabulous but the set, wardrobe were also wonderful. And I too loved the shoes almost as much as the Bourguignon!
PBS has been running reruns of Cooking with Julia on Saturday and being I can compare, Streep nailed Julia perfectly.
August 12th, 2009 @ 2:41 pm
I think the lobster thing is something to do with animal cruelty in movies, they arent allowed to film someone killing a live animal or something like that.
August 13th, 2009 @ 6:37 am
I couldn’t agree more…I wanted to learn so much more about Julia Child!
August 17th, 2009 @ 10:08 pm
Great review! I thoroughly loved the film and too had wished the movie had been all about Julia. Meryl Streep captured her so well. And I think maybe she got her knife skills down. Just last week PBS was running a special about Julia and she hacked up a fish for Bouillabaise and I just couldn’t help but cringe at the horror of it all. Still she was an utterly charming soul.
I thought it was well played that she cut all is food bloggers off at the pass when she and her friend declared her a bitch. It was the word that was bantered about in the food blogs for a bit when we all discovered she really couldn’t cook. Very interesting.
Interesting point about the director. It was exactly as you say, a movie about Julie that most of us wished it was all about Julia.
August 18th, 2009 @ 9:13 pm
I agree with everyone’s sentiments regarding wanting to see more of Julia. I also wrote a brief summary of the movie and made similar points, but your review was fantastic. It really captured how I felt about the film.
Don, I agree. I was also hoping to see Jacques Pepin as I know he was pivotal in helping edit the cookbook.
I’m currently reading Julia’s My Life in France and I’m totally captivated. I can’t wait to get to the end as each chapter gives you so much insight into the formative culinary years for Julia.
Bon Appetit Everyone.