The Gift of GAB Blog

And for the first movie on our new Netflix/Wii disk, we watched Julie and Julia. J&J is a movie that follows the lives of Julie Powell and Julia Childs and is somewhat based off their autobiographies/memoirs and blog. The movie moves you through the mid years of Julia and Julie’s lives, and shows you how they used cooking to better their world.

Starting in Paris, you watch as Julia confronts the Le Cordon Bleu and begins her in depth love affair with French cooking. Meanwhile, you are also watching Juile in New York, post September 11th, where she is struggling to deal with her frustrating job as an telephone operator dealing with calls from the public concerning the rebuilding of the trade centers. Needing to add some comfort and liveliness to her world, Julie, with the support of her husband, decides to cook her way through Julia’s book,
Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and blog about her experiences while she does. The rest of the movie shows the similar struggles, obstacles and successes that both women have while trying to attain their goals, the publishing of Julia’s book and the completion of 524 recipes in 365 days.

Besides the plot, the movie itself is breath taking. Meryl Streep is absolutely perfect as Julia Childs. Since I have never had the chance to actually meet Julia Childs, I can only use what I have seen of her on TV to make the comparison – and Meryl Streep’s portrayal is spot on. The set locations are spectacular, especially the ones in Paris, and the kitchens are gourgeous -even Julie’s small one! The transitions between Julie and Julia are flawless and never once was I jarred from scene to scene.

The only main issue I have with this movie is the end. While it is true that Julia was quoted as saying “I don’t think she’s a serious cook”, in regards to Julie’s attempt to cook her way through the book and blog about it, I felt that scene in the movie almost destroyed the movie itself. While the movie mood had its highs and lows, this jarring revelations was a so out of character for Julia and wasn’t explained much, other than Julie’s cries of “Julia hates me” for a few minutes. The saving grace of this odd scene comes from Julie’s husband, who conveniences her to that the only Julia that matters is the one in Julie’s head that she has created while reading and cooking from Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

A quick research into why Julia wans’t thrilled about Julie’s attempt, resulted in this: “Jones thinks there was a generational difference between Powell and Child. “Flinging around four-letter words when cooking isn’t attractive, to me or Julia. She didn’t want to endorse it. What came through on the blog was somebody who was doing it almost for the sake of a stunt. She would never really describe the end results, how delicious it was, and what she learned. Julia didn’t like what she called ‘the flimsies.’ She didn’t suffer fools, if you know what I mean.” (Publishers Weekly article).

Anyways, it seems that there are only 3 ways to take this movie, either you will love it, hate it, or it is so-so…Black, White or 50/50 Gray, no shades of gray, just the 3 options. In looking at 100s of different reviews, most complaints had to deal with the characters themselves and their story lines – if they are a Julia Childs fan, then they tended to find Julie’s story line intrusive of boring, and vice versa. I think a lot of it boils down to age and the generation gap – which also seems to be a major player in the “Julia hates me” episode.

For me, I give it 9 stars and would suggest that if you did like Julia Childs at all, to give the movie a chance. But do so with the understanding that there is over 50 years difference between the 2 main characters and society has changed dramatically in those 50 years.

Links:
Julie Powell’s Blog: The Julie/Julia Project

Article that explains why Julia wasn’t happy with Julie: Mastering the Art of French Cooking’ Reaches Young Readers Again