The Art of Cooking is all in the balance...

I'm just back from the cinema. I went to see Julie & Julia, a film about a young American woman, (Julie) approaching 30 who looks around and realises she doesn't aspire to the same things as her friends, but realising she needs to aspire to something, (she calls herself a "government drone") she decides, (with the prompting of her husband) that she should write a blog about her love of cooking. The seed of the idea germinates into a challenge: she will make every one of the 524 recipes in "The Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child in the space of a year, and she will blog about it.

Now maybe, like me, you don't know who Julia Child is. Julia Child is, according to Wikipedia:

Julia Child (August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American chef, author and television personality. She introduced French cuisine and cooking techniques to the American mainstream through her many cookbooks and television programs, notably The French Chef which premiered in 1963. Her most well-known cookbook is Mastering the Art of French Cooking, published in 1961.

According to the film, Julie has fond memories of her own mother cooking from Julia Child's cookbook. Meryl Streep by the way is brilliant as ever, so funny and so likeable. I've googled Julia Child since I got home and was shocked how much Streep captured her physically.

Back to the plot - the 'The Julie/Julia Project" gives Julie focus and she rises to the challenge and despite occasional tears and (some) culinary disasters, she becomes a great cook. The film is intercut with scenes from Julia Child's life, in Paris as she takes up cooking and afterwards in various places in Europe as she tries to write her book...

At one point Julie, living in a small apartment in Brooklyn, has a big disappointment and rows with her husband. He reveals he can't wait for the year to be up. She has become so obsessed with her recipes and her unknown readers who follow her blog, that she hasn't realised he is fed up and feels neglected. I understood where he was coming from, but at the same time was furious with him. The film, to me, is really about women trying to find a focus for their energies, to channel their brilliance, and allowing themselves to succeed. Ok, true, she was being marginally selfish, but his frustration disappointed me. She had finally gone for something wholeheartedly and here he was, discouraging her! But I realised, and she realised, and he realised, that things have to be done in moderation. Or, rather, in order to succeed at something you love you cannot neglect the people you love. Otherwise you're a big success story with no one to share it with.

You can still look at the original blog which inspired the film! (Click here.)