Julia Review – Documentary Serves Up Inspiration

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Category: Indies, Docs, Foreign Film

Published on Monday, 06 June 2022 18:20

Written by Janet Walker

Julia, from Sony Pictures Classics, presents the story of America's first television Chef Superstar, Julia Child, through a full course gourmet treat through her life, from childhood to explorer to cultural connoisseur and finally gourmand master.

For foodies, Julia Child is known for introducing the possibility of creating authentic French cuisine with ingredients the American housewife could purchase from her local grocery store, into every home in American through her book, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," for those who became fans later in her life or perhaps were not alive to enjoy her humble television beginnings, Julia Child, was a trailblazer from women and female Chef's in a profession dominated by men.

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Her iconic status as the mother of French cuisine in America continued to rise like an Souffle, taking her to unprecedented heights when she should have long been retired.

We travel with her through the frames of the documentary, from her childhood and meet her family, and as she explained when her children had each grown to over 6" each, she had given birth to 18 feet of children. She was born in an era when women, of her status, were groomed for marriage. She was also, after graduating from Smith College, her parents had expected her to marry an heir of a newspaper publishing company. He asked and, to her credit, she declined. Her internal craving for life leads her to enlist in the U.S. military during World War II. Soon, her typing skills set her apart and she worked in the diplomatic corp. It was here that she met her husband, Paul.

When they war ended, she had the opportunity to remain in the service and move to Japan. Soon, as the documentary goes, the two became romantically involved, each sending the other letters, in a language that almost seems foreign by contemporary standards, flavored with words that cause the heart to continue to simmer during their absences.

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Not long after they were married and eventually, they were stationed in Paris. For them, life in Paris, was intoxicating, the cuisine, the sights, the flavors they each brought her love of food, his of wine, complimented the other and life was grand. She enrolled in the Le Cordon Blu Culinary School and found her passion. The classes, of course, were mostly men, who didn't take to kindly to a woman in the classes. However, Julia, at more than 6" was able to navigate the unlikely mixture better than others.

Not satisfied with conquering cooking, Julie and two friends, Parisians Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, decided to create the ultimate cookbook, one for the ages, one to always be remembered, one that was very big, an encyclopedia, and one that was rejected for being out of step with current trends.

So, they tried another publisher, Knopf Publishing, and there they met Judith Jones, an editor who would champion Julia's cookbook, even as the Alfred Knopf, the owner of Knopf, said he doubted even one person would buy it.

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By this time Julia and Paul, through forced retirement, had moved back to the states and were living in Massachusetts. So, as history records Julia was booked on a local Boston PBS program and just to spice up the afternoon, she made a perfectly prepared omelet in under five minutes.

A small chance paid off big, for the should be thinking about retirement, newly minted cookbook writer. Within a year, both Boston's WGBH and Julia Child would be household names. She would go on to host The French Chef for ten years, continue to write additional cookbooks and well into her 80s she was hosting cooking programs for network television.

Created by Julie Cohen and Betsy West, who created RBG, Julia take the viewer on a delightful and intriguing journey through the life of America's first superstar chef. It is inspirational. See it.

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Country: USA.

Language: English.

Runtime: 95minutes.

Director: Julie Cohen, Betsy West.

Executive Producer: Brain Grazer, Ron Howard, Michael Rosenberg, Amy Entelis, Courtney Sexton, Bob Spitz, Alex Prud'Homme, Oren Jacoby.

Producer: Betsy West, Julie Cohen, Sara Bernstein, Justine Wilkes, Holly Siegel.

Cast: Julia Child, Paul Child.