Blogger is no match for Grand Dame of cooking

The charming story of Julia Child steals the movie -- and our hearts -- in this tribute to a cookbook author.

By LEE SVITAK DEAN, Star Tribune Taste editor

Last update: August 5, 2009 - 12:13 PM

Can a cook be happy with the new movie "Julie & Julia," which opens Friday?

Well, yes and no. With Meryl Streep playing Julia Child, it's worth viewing. Streep has the trill, the bounce and exuberance of the Grand Dame of cooking. She is Julia Child, never mind that Streep is 5 feet 6 and Child was 6 feet 2.

Streep plays one very important half of the story about a young woman, Julie Powell, who decides to cook her way through Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," which she then chronicles in a blog in 2002. The movie compares Powell's evolving skills in the kitchen with those of her "mentor," Julia Child, who so many years earlier had started cooking in her 30s.

But the tale of Powell on film can't compete with that of cooking master Child. Powell, the student, decides to learn to cook. She cooks a lot. Some recipes work; others are failures. She eats. She writes. She frets. She writes. She eats some more. Occasionally she dissolves into tears and/or marital discord. As they say in the movie biz: There's no arc to this story. (But there is a lot of chomping on food, which isn't particularly pleasant to watch.)

You do get to see Dan Aykroyd portray Child in the famous "Saturday Night Live" skit (though you can watch it on the internet anytime you want), but I suspect that will be meaningful only to cooks of a certain age (say, over 40).

But for even mildly curious cooks, the movie is a must-see simply for the story of Child -- which is a remarkable tale in itself -- as well as for the portrayal by Streep.

Child meets Paul, her husband-to-be, in Ceylon, where they are both stationed in the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, which transfers them to China. Paul, an artist and gourmand as well as a diplomat, is later posted to Paris -- which is where the movie begins -- and the rest, as they say, is history as Child finds her calling, which includes nine years writing the book that made her famous.

What the movie makes clear is her passionate, long-lasting romance with her husband (played endearingly by Stanley Tucci). Pair that love with a great sense of humor, sometimes bawdy, and you've got her sending a photo valentine to friends, picturing her and Paul in a bathtub au naturel, bubbles strategically positioned and the words "Wish you were here" inscribed.

That's my kind of cook: exuberant, curious, full of life -- and someone who laughs a lot.

More, more Julia

For more about Child, read her excellent autobiography, "My Life in France," written with great grace with her nephew Alex Prud'homme. Or take a look at "Julia Child, A Life," by Laura Shapiro, a slim volume that tells the story of America's most famous cook.

Powell's book, "Julie & Julia," on which the movie is based, is a breezy read. Though her blog was the genesis of the book, it goes far beyond her online chatting as she tells the story of her effort to meet a personal challenge of 524 recipes in 365 days.

But my favorite way of channeling Child is watching the original TV series, now on DVD and available as a six-DVD set called "The French Chef With Julia Child."

Sometimes -- as with butter -- only the real thing will do.

Lee Svitak Dean

How did you like the movie? Let us know at startribune.com/tabletalk.