In 2009, Meryl Streep won acclaim as Julia Child in the Norah Ephron film, Julia and Julia. For us foreigners, her name doesn’t say anything, but for those who like TV or work with content, Julia is one of the legends of the avant-garde, the “inventor” of cooking programs, The French Chef. Furthermore, the program appeared on a local broadcaster in Boston, gaining ground in the country and then in the world, in other words, a fascinating story.

The film reflects more on the beginning of her career as a writer, being the first woman to join the sexist and exclusive Cordon Bleu and later publishing the best seller of French recipes for the American Housewife, the HBO series, with two excellent seasons, covers the most interesting period of the entire journey: how Julia invented the format that is still copied on all food programs today. It’s nothing short of fascinating.

Played by a charismatic Sarah Lancashire, we meet a restless Julia Child, curious and determined to get what she wants. Obsessed with food, and brilliant in the kitchen, following the presenter’s trajectory is also a journey through time and a study of American society at the time. With a detailed and fine-tuned production, she skillfully balances comedic and dramatic situations, hooking us (and making us hungry!) from the start.

Those who follow fact by fact literally are mistaken. The showrunners used a certain amount of creative freedom when adapting the life of the culinary icon for HBO Max. Daniel Goldfarb and showrunner Chris Keyser used rich material from extensive research tying imagination and reality. He cited the 1979 play, Amadeus, by Peter Shaffer, which at the time innovated by including completely original and imagined events in the narrative. The film (Oscar winner) is an adaptation of this text. “We kind of imagined what could have been and what could have been or could have happened,” Goldfarb told Variety when he released the first season.

Moments like the almost cancellation of the cooking show, which didn’t happen, show how Julia discovered and examined its impact on the culture of the time. The participation of the producer also changed, creating the fictional Alice (Brittany Bradford), the black female producer who ensures inclusion in a story that would be very focused on a white audience if it did not reflect other issues of the time. This was applied to revisit the dynamics of marriages, reinforcing the opposite journey of Paul being forced to retire while Julia became a star.

Here we understand the absence of David Hyde Pierce in the Frasier reboot because as Paul Child he is practically unrecognizable. No, wait, he could be in Frasier because his co-star, Bebe Neuwirth, who plays Julia’s best friend, Avis, is also a cast member and appeared in the Paramount Plus series. It’s really good and it’s even more fun when famous names parade because the story is true. The caveat is that if you don’t know the legend that is Julia Child, or the period of the Cold War and McCarthyism, you may get a little lost at times because they don’t go into depth, for example, how Paul Child was removed from his diplomatic career by suspicious of communist and gay tendencies. The performance by Hyde Pierce, who replaced Tom Hollander, is both sweet and sad because what is hinted at is not deepened.

In eight episodes for each season, Julia may have been hidden from your radar, like she was from mine! You must correct the error immediately. She is an unconventional woman who no one would ever bet could become a television star and supporter of other women before it was “fashionable”, like her American editor, Judith Jones (Fiona Glascott), and her French editor, Simone Beck (Isabella Rossellini). In fact, rest assured, we avoided moments of anachronism as much as possible, trying to contextualize what is now normal within the context of the time.

The creators’ proposal is to cover the 10 years that The French Chef was on the air, and in the second season, we left the studios and got a better look at Julia’s dynamic with Simca Beck, a great chance to miss Isabella Rossellini. If it actually continues like this, we will have a rich period of history in the United States, including the Watergate scandal.

“Julia had a whole third act after ‘The French Chef,’ and at least at this point, I don’t think this show is about that,” Goldfarb explained in 2022. “It’s a really incredible decade in the history of America, and all the social changes that are taking place in the country, and using Julia as a way to explore all of these ideas and themes feels really rich.”

Bon appétit!

Pesquisar

Pesquisar