Date: 2009
Director: Nora Ephron
Actors and Characters: Meryl Streep/ Julia Child, Amy Adams/ Julie Powell, Stanley Tucci/ Paul Child, Chris Messina/ Eric Powell
Summary: Julia Child's story of her start in the cooking profession is intertwined with blogger Julie Powell's 2002 challenge to cook all the recipes in Child's first book.
Review
I adore this film; it's fun, filled with food and features characters so lively and vibrant you can't help but fall in love with them. Ephron has a way of writing and creating films that just ooze with all the best qualities of humanity and this one is no different. If you haven't already seen this film I would recommend that you watch it with a tasty meal and an empty belly as it's just mouth watering from start to finish.
Julie and Julia focuses on the story of two women connected through a love of cooking. Julia Child was a renowned American chef that brought the complex art of French cooking to the average American. Julie Powell is a women drowning in a sea of uncertainty, struggling to find a passion and enthusiasm in her life she sets out to cook all the recipes in Child's famous cookbook over the course of a year in order to find a sort of fulfilment in her life. The cross cutting between these two women is really engaging from an audience perspective. Having two central characters ensures that the film's pace is not boring. The film is about more than simply an adoration of food and cuisine, it is about the legacy that one woman leaves and how it can impact the future.
Meryl Streep gives an excellent performance (as always) as the legendary Julia Child. She is eccentric, vibrant and ferocious, watching Child's struggle as acted by Streep was wonderful. She rejected the conventional role of the 1940s housewife completely, when her husband was transfered to Paris for work she did not sit inside all day as the passive wife but she went out and started a career. I loved Child's drive and her ability to constantly look on the bright side. Adam's character, Julie Powell, reflected a realistic depiction of the modern woman. Admittedly I found her less fun to watch than Child however I appreciated her mission to complete the cookbook in order to get a grip on her life and her passion once more.
The romantic subplots of the film are really sweet to watch and as you may have realised I am a huge fan of romance. I absolutely loved the dynamic between Streep and Tucci as a married couple they were so adorable and had such a healthy relationship in the fact that they both valued each others wants and needs equally. I loved how progressive the two were as well.
I remember being taught about a notion that Laura U. Marks came up with called 'haptic visuality' in a film studies class. Haptic visuality describes a feeling when you watch a film and you feel what's happening on screen in an extremely tactile and visceral manner. This film sums up haptic visuality for me, everytime we see food on screen in this film it made me so hungry. Every recipe that the two women cook up had my stomach rubbling which is why I would definitely say to grab a snack before sitting down and watching this!
If you haven't seen Julie and Julia I would highly recommend watching it. I have seen this film twice now and have really enjoyed watching it both times.
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