I went to watch Julie & Julia with my brother. I saw the trailers showing on cable and was very tickled by the scene where Paul Child (Stanley Tucci) asked Julia Child (Meryl Streep) what she likes to do and she replied, “Eat!”
The Plot
The movie is about two interwoven stories about two women – Julia Child and Julie Powell (Amy Adams). The movie started with Julie’s story and ends with Julia’s story. You see a bit of Julie’s story then a bit of Julia’s story then a bit of Julie’s story and so on. But to make it less confusing, I’ve separated the stories.
Julie Powell
The movie starts with Julie and her husband, Eric Powell (Chris Messina), moving in a new home above a pizza parlour. As she tries to get use to her new place, work and turning 30, she turns to cooking as a source of comfort. One day, she decides to challenge herself by cooking all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking within one year and blogs about her experience. Along the way, she manages to attract a big following on her blog and becomes a celebrity. After one year, she finished cooking all the recipes. Her story finishes with her and her husband paying a visit to a museum on Julia Child.
Julia Child
Julia Child’s story is set in 1950s. She and her husband, Paul Child, just moved to Paris as Paul is starting work in the French embassy. Julia fell in love with French cooking and enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu to learn how to cook. She met Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle who were writing a cooking about French cooking for Americans. Julia was invited to join them in writing the book to make it appeal to Americans. For the next decade, as Julia moved around due to her husband’s job, the three kept working on the book and keeping in contact through letters. The movie ends with Julia and Paul in the kitchen and opening up a parcel containing the published version of their cookbook.
Thoughts
I have not heard of Julia Child or Julie Powell before this movie so I’m not sure how accurate is the portrayal of these two real life persons. So when I watched the movie, I treated it as just two fictional stories.
I like how the stories were interwoven together and how certain events were mirrored in both stories. Julie’s story started with her moving into her new home and Julia’s story also started with her moving into her new home in Paris. Of the two stories, I preferred Julia Child’s story. It is more interesting and funnier. By comparison, Julie’s story was somewhat dull and mundane. I often found myself sitting through Julie’s story, just waiting for Julia’s story to start.
I think part of the reason was the charm of Meryl Streep. She gives her character a lot of personality, sometimes bossy, sometimes playful and always charming. While Amy Adams is likable, Julie Powell pales in comparison to Julia Child. Julie Powell feels ordinary and not like the female lead of a movie. There isn’t anything to draw me to her story.
For eye candy, the younger couple (Eric and Julie Powell) is more good-looking than the older couple (Paul and Julia Child). But I am more interested in the older couple’s relationship as the chemistry between them felt more real even though they made an odd-looking couple. Paul is always a constant part of Julia’s life, supporting her and encouraging her, while Eric felt like his presence was just there as a plot device.
Strangely I don’t feel really tempted by the food in the show even though there was a lot of cooking and the preparation of dishes. I did feel hungry at the end of the movie but I think it was mainly because it was 10pm and I have not eaten anything since lunch.
