I must have been one of the few recipe blog writers who did not dash out to the cinema when Julie & Julia was released. The subject matter of food aside I really did not feel connected to it. I knew none of the history of Julia Child or the blogger whom she inspired. I am British, and for me, this was a story for an American audience. A short while ago I heard it was being released on DVD and, by this point, my daily fills of South American “telenovelas” and the all too frequently repeated American Comedies were waying heavy on my sanity. I needed something new to watch.
The thing is, with the benefit of hind sight, I do not really comprehend why I lacked interest before. I love food, adore it. Its why I am a little on the chunky side. I also happen to admire the various works of Meryl Streep who plays the role of Julia Child so charmingly. But I digress. I finally saw the movie, and with no knowledge of who either Julie or Julia were.
Julia Child is of course most famous for taking the finer points of French cuisine to the American masses. Her book Mastering the Art of French Cooking introduced bouillabaisse, sole meunière and countless other french dishes to suburban America. Julie Power, on the other hand, achieved her fame through blogging – those in the know will know this to be the Julie/Julia Project
The second viewing, blessed with a little history on the two main characters really did help me appreciate it far better. I no longer wanted to throttle Meryl Streep´s Julia for the accent – yes, I´m sorry, the accent nearly drove me to distraction. By the second viewing I could settle down and appreciate the movie for what it was – a tale of two very different, but equally exceptional, women.
For me, as much as I admired the achievements of Julia Child I was drawn in some inexcusable way to dear Julie.
I felt myself identifying with her. She was very human, and very easy to connect with because she isn´t perfect – and the actress did a fine job of putting that across. She is no angel, and I like that. It helped me appreciate the film in a way I wasn´t really sure was possible – sure, I love food and cooking, but I had not been drawn to the movie before purely and simply because I presumed that the story would be celebrating yet more women who fit in with the feminine ideal of chef in the kitchen, yes, you can work out the rest for yourselves.
I´ll be the first to admit I was wrong. The movie was, well, it was positively charming. Setting aside the accent which drove me to distraction during the first viewing, the acting was faultless. Now blessed with knowledge of who Julia Child was I feel I can really appreciate Meryl Streeps portrayal. It as re-aroused my interest in both this film genre and in French cuisine in general!
Incidentally, for interested parties, the special edition comes with a small cookbook – containing extracts from Julia Child´s book “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”. I read this from cover to cover, and was instantly enthralled by some old favourites experience on various vacations to France when I was a child. For this alone it was well worth it! Check out amazon.co.uk for further information – Julie and Julia [DVD] [2009]
Much much later addition -Of course now I have found the other blog of Julie. It makes interesting reading. Particularly suprised she seems to have become the victim of name callers. There are some spiteful jealous minded individuals in this world.