Mark Reviews Movies: JULIA (2021)

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Review by Mark Dujsik | November 11, 2021

Julia Child changed a lot about Americans' relationship with cooking and, more generally, food. Watching Julia, which opens with montages of the celebrity chef and someone cooking one of her recipes, one does wonder what could learned about Child, beyond all of the lessons she offering in books and on television for decades. By the end of directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West's adoring and increasingly stretching documentary, we're still left wondering what real insight the movie has provided.

A lack of depth or some kind of bigger-picture message isn't necessarily a detriment in a documentary about a specific personality. As long as the filmmakers understand that sometimes the surface of a person and the person's experiences is worthwhile enough, the personality, inspiration, and/or accomplishments of that person can be enough to carry a biographical documentary like this one.

Child, of course, was a larger-than-life figure—literally, in that she stood over 6 feet tall, and figuratively, in that her love for cuisine was so readily apparent any time she appeared on TV to speak about or, more famously, actually make food. The best moments of this movie, obviously, feature clips from her four decades on television. A lot of the appeal is in seeing Child at work, witnessing the skill with which she did cook, and listening to the giddy tone of that unmistakable voice. Another part of why these moments are so worthwhile is the food, which will probably leave one making mental or physical notes of recipes to search for once the credits start rolling.

The famous chef's adoration of good food was and, even some 17 years after her death, remains infectious. If Cohen and West had simply given us a sort of greatest hits account of Child's most delicious dishes and most inspired television appearances, there might have been something even to a documentary as rudimentary and repetitive in form and substance as that. Entertaining the thought of possibly preferring something so simplistic shows two things: First, Child was great at and engaging in what she did, and second, this movie misses out too much on that fact.

It certainly starts with some promise in that direction, as Cohen and West embrace the introductory conventions (that opening montage of footage and talking-head interviews) but bypass the biographical formalities (going right into the subject's life story from the beginning) of documentaries such as this. Instead, we're first introduced to Child at the start of her television career, appearing on a TV show out of Boston to promote her book Mastering the Art of French Cooking and, to make her point clear, preparing a perfect French omelet. People loved it, and that prompted the station to give Child a chance to do her own show. The rest is history—and a lot of clips.

Cohen and West eventually return to the—literally, at times, and figurative—meat of Child's career. That's only after the narrative circles back to it, following the fairly standard account of Child's personal life and professional trajectory that the movie seemed ready either to avoid or to incorporate a bit more naturally. Her life before becoming a celebrity isn't dull—joining the OSS in World War II, following a childhood in a conservative household, and, after marrying the man who would be her husband for almost 50 years, becoming the only woman in a cooking class at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. It's just disappointing to see a documentary start to curb routine, only to fully follow it.

The rest of the documentary sticks to that mostly formulaic script of filmed non-fiction biography, as family members, friends, colleagues, those who were inspired by the subject, and experts in the field narrate or comment upon Child's personal life, career, and great importance to the culture. That Child herself, from a recorded interview, offers some insight into these matters doesn't help too much, since her own account seems of secondary importance to the filmmakers compared to the other interviewees.

The actual footage of Child, at least, is quite entertaining and somewhat insightful into how she saw herself as a TV personality and chef. The early shows, recorded on a tight budget and without the benefit of editing equipment, had to be done in one take with multiple cameras, so if Child messed up in some way, that would end up on the final product. She handles mistakes with the same ease that she chops or whisks, and that good humor and quick-wittedness was as much a reason for her fame as her skill in the kitchen.

There isn't much more to this, aside from some behind-the-scenes network drama, and seemingly aware of that fact and pressed to give Child's life more meaning than just the impact of her career, Cohen and West go a bit out of their way to spend the last stretch of the movie on some of their subject's political belief and efforts. It's hard to buy these moments as much more than an attempt to offer some "relevance" to Child, because, if they were that important to her life, the filmmakers likely wouldn't have been able to rush through them so quickly. They do, though, and the result feels disingenuous and pandering.

Sometimes, a person is famous for what they do for good reason. Julia could have stood to understand and, more vitally, accept that.

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