Julie & Julia

Nora Ephron’s film about the culinary endeavors of two very different women from two very different eras depicts delicious scenes of culinary genius but falls short of being delectable overall. It is a cinematic infirmity nurturing one cliché after another, all of which we seen before. The Academy Award nominated screenwriter has created another heartwarming biopic, after the likes of her first script Silkwood. The film itself bounces back and forth between the two main characters Julia Child and Julie Powell, both women with culinary ambitions, and between two different eras. Ephron attempts to combine their two memoirs, "My Life in France," which Child wrote with her grandnephew Alex Prud'homme, and "Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously," by Powell. Although Ephron also directs but ultimately leaves something wanting from the film. I have yet to see a film of directed by Ephron that truly brings about the grandeur of human circumstance the way her prior scripts have. Perhaps if Sony Pictures had employed Rob Reiner or Mike Nichols to direct, the film would have come together better.

There is already a lot of buzz surrounding Meryl Streep being nominated for the 16th time in her career by the Academy. However, I do not feel this is either a breakthrough role for her or an Oscar worthy performance. The emotional subtlety she creates is carried mainly by her accent and the physical illusion of her character’s grandeur created by Ephron. But it essentially lacks the emotional zeal that should merit Best Actress recognition and I can think of many others this year who have fostered their portrayals accordingly. Nonetheless, Streep executes well as Julia Child.

Julia’s husband Paul Child (Stanley Tucci) is relocated to Paris to work at the United States Information Agency. Her predictable routine of dinner parties and events leaves Julia with a major void in her life. Julia asks, "What do you think it means when you don't like your friends?" She finds herself in uncharted territory with plenty of time on her hands and little to no confidants. And as a result, she begins to take classes at Le Cordon Bleu, studying culinary arts. Her naive approach towards being emerged in French culture in the beginning of the film is both endearing and poignant. The antics endured by her character as she attends classes are often delightful and humorous. She is upstaged early on by her classmates, because she is inexperienced but also because she is a woman; who at the time were not respected as chefs. However, Julia persists and does complete her formal training.

The film fails to recreate the true themes behind Child’s novel "My Life in France”, which the script is based upon. This is a major shortcoming on Ephron’s part because the book was intended to tell the story of how living in France liberated her from her traditional lifestyle through cooking. Instead, it focuses on merely on surface events, with a serious inadequacy of personal deprivation. It reminiscences of Gene Kelly in An American Paris, only this time instead of painting pursuits, Julia’s looking to master the art of cooking. But the same “fish out of water” scenario is the same. And instead of a new romantic beau, Julia is courted by two struggling French cookbook writers Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck, played by Helen Carey and Linda Emond respectively, who are trying to break into the American market of domestic remuneration. Together, these three women aim to collaborate and publish “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” which would become the very first French cookbook ever written in English. The failures and success of their venture set the premise for much of the film, bitter sweetly reinforcing the triviality of “if first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

Amy Adams plays Child’s modern day neophyte and counterpart Julie Powell. She is a young newlywed who finds herself at a career standstill and seeks something more out of her life, just like Julia. Julie decides to start writing a Blog where she intends to cook every single recipe in Julia Child’s book and write about it. She gives herself a deadline of one year because, as she proclaims, “Let’s face it, I mean, I never finish anything.” She goes through countless trial in the kitchen as she attempts to prepare and cook Child’s recipes. Julie becomes engulfed by her project to cook all 524 recipes in 365 days, and predictably enough, everything else become secondary, including her husband at times. She faces much turmoil in her endeavor, and is often frustrated by incomplete ingredients or failed execution. “I got carried away at Dean & Deluca last night and spent half my take home check!” and even then is still forced to make substations and improvisations to salvage her meals. Many of her subsequent scenes present Lucille Ball-like situations, although not with quite the same humor.

This portrayal is far more realistic than the one of Child. The audience can see how much Julie is struggling just to find everything she needs and sometimes still comes up short in the kitchen. This candid portrayal of Julie contrasts the happy-go-lucky sensibilities of Julia pictured strolling throughout the Parisian marketplace where nothing seems to bother her. Adams’ shines again in this supporting role and brings about the same endearing qualities of her Ashley Johnsten in Junebug and Giselle in Enchanted.

Two extremely understanding and unrealistically acquiescent husbands support both women. Stanley Tucci plays Julie’s husband Paul Child and Chris Messina plays Julie’s husband Eric Powell. Again, Ephron creates an unbalance between the two characters and the two periods. Paul is seemingly perfect on the surface and takes care of his wife unconditionally. Eric on the other hand is supportive, but not in the same circumstances to financially secure both his and his wife’s livelihood without her contribution. This contrast recognizes that we do live in hard times today than in the 1940’s and that the sanctity and expectation of marriage has greatly changed since the Donna Reed days where our wives were happy homemakers. This is a subtle social message that Ephron could have incorporated more, but instead chose to focus on just the cooking. Both Tucci and Messina humbly revel in their capacities as Mr. Julia Child and Mr. Julie Powell, each bringing about a new found appreciation to the phrase “Behind every great woman there's a great man.”

Julie & Julia has the same situational humor of many of Nora Ephron’s prior films that parallel two vastly different characters on a journey of discovery, namely When Harry Met Sally… and Sleepless in Seattle. It addresses the surface issues of women and their pursuits, but without ever truly moving us. As enjoyable as this foodie movie may be at times, you can’t help but wish it had a deeper, more nuanced measure of the women themselves, beyond just them in the kitchen. Unlike other such culinary films about female chefs, such as Babette's Feast, Big Night, Like Water for Chocolate and Woman on Top, Julie & Julia disappointingly is overcast by their shadows. Julia Child’s own recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon in the featured cookbook of the film, she states that if the sauce is “too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons of stock or canned bouillon. Taste carefully for seasoning.” I don’t think Nora Ephron followed these simple instructions with her film and as a result ended up with Beef Stew—though satisfying, nothing extraordinary.

Rating: ★ ★
Bottomline: Entertaining enough, but more of an ensemble of clichés than anything.