Julie & Julia

Last night my partner Annie and I saw Julie & Julia - a feel-good movie about a blogger. So here I am blogging about a movie about a blogger.

It's about a woman about to turn 30 who gains a sense of purpose and achievement by cooking in 12 months, every recipe (524 count ‘em) in Julia Child’s 1960s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She maintains a weblog, charting her progress.

Amy Adams, a relative unknown, plays Julie. And Meryl Streep not so much acting but channelling the tall, effusive and endearing Julia Child. The movie is great – capturing 1950s postwar France with elegance as a counterpoint to Julia’s harassed 21st century gritty Queens NYC life.

As a kid I remember watching Julia Child on her TV cooking show, and was fascinated by her slightly diastracted and woozy personality as she beguilingly whipped up fab French nosh, accompanied by her American verbal quirks like saying ‘erbs’ and ‘ap-ricots.’

These were the good old days before celebrity chefs starting outing themselves, leaping out of the batwing kitchen doors, all sweaty and bug-eyed, craving adulation. These were the days when they were called cooks, and would be more than happy with ‘compliments,’ passed on by a waitperson. But I digress.

A great movie. Meryl is my pick for an Oscar.
And here's more good news: Julia died at 92 years after a life of eating French food, drinking wine and smoking.