Bon Appetit!

BATUL MUKHTIAR

FILM » JULIE & JULIA DIRECTOR » NORA EPHRON STARRING » MERYL STREEP, AMY ADAMS, STANLEY TUCCI, CHRIS MESSINA RATING » * * * * *

IT’S NOT a good idea going to see Julie & Julia during a late night show, if you’ve had an early dinner. The meal’s digested and your stomach groans with unfulfilled longing as dish after perfect dish is dished out by Julia and Julie, in turns.

The only way I can ignore my rumbling stomach and similar sounds from the rest of the audience is by being totally mesmerised by Meryl Streep, playing Julia Child, chef, author and television personality, who introduced French cuisine and cooking techniques to the American mainstream. Streep, yet again, uses her body, posture, voice and laughter to transcend from mere imitation of a real-life persona to become at once energetic, loveable and inspirational.

Julie, played by Amy Adams, is competent enough, endearing as a young ‘loser’ slowly finding her self and her voice through her blog, ‘The Julie/Julia Project’. Her journey is one that anyone who has ever written a blog experiences – the excitement of the first few comments, the rush of being read, the narcissistic obsession that takes over as that other persona, the writer, comes alive. The dream of a blog becoming a book becoming a film is also one that many have secretly nurtured.

Both Julie and Julia have warm, supportive husbands. Stanley Tucci as Paul Child, and Chris Messina as Eric Powell make ‘nice’ different from ‘boring’. But unfortunately all talents are dimmed by the formidable Ms Streep, except that of Jane Lynch who brings her own awkwardly tall frame superbly into play as Julia's sister, Dorothy. The two or three scenes between Streep and Lynch are so remarkable as to make the film a worthwhile watch for them alone. In their laughter, and the lines they complete for each other, and the way they hold their bodies together, the two actors evoke without any flashbacks their childhood and growing up together in a few, quick strokes. The intertwining of Julie and Julia’s memoirs brings forth interesting parallels in their lives. But the structure also lends itself to a little rambling and drags out the end. However, the film holds enough joy in it for one to be forgiving.

My daughter said to me, “To you, it’s the perfect film, isn’t it? It has food, and blogging, and nice husbands and crazy heroines.” I just nodded blissfully, happy and contented at 1 am. “And Meryl Streep, I said, and Meryl Streep. And Paris.”