by Lauren Haslett

Created on: August 27, 2009

Julie & Julia is a new film about how classic French cooking finally made its way to American kitchens. It also a movie about an unexpected tie between two women, the celebrated chef, Julia Child, played by Meryl Streep, and the (then) struggling writer, Julie Powell, portrayed by Amy Adams.

The movie, directed by Nora Ephron and based on the book of the same name by Julie Powell, is a warm-hearted film that focuses on two of the most human of pleasures - love and food.

The film jumps the usual boundaries of both time and space to trace the two women's journeys to fulfillment through food. When the movie starts, both women are dissatisfied with their current jobs (or lack thereof) and both are shown to have amazingly supportive and caring husbands, who as the story develops, prove their crucial roles in their wives' successes.

Meryl Streep excels as Julia Child, fitting excellently into this difficult role to portray a strong, determined and deeply joyful female lead. The distinctive mannerisms and way of speaking of the famous Child could easily have been overacted, becoming more caricature than real-life woman, but Ms. Streep did not allow this to happen. Instead, she embodied her character in a fully human way, showing both the ups and downs of Child's path to culinary mastery and fame with equal candor and emotional depth. This allowed the audience to connect with her and her husband, Paul (played by Stanley Tucci) on a variety of levels as they struggled to make themselves at home and stay connected to their beloved Paris in countless foreign settings.

The modern-day New Yorker Julie Powell, as played by Amy Adams, is not always so gracious and mature as the lovely Ms. Child, but nevertheless, her unwavering ambition as she struggles to complete each and every one of the famous chef's recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking won over this member of the audience. And though the character of Julie Powell was herself often confused and self-pitying, Amy Adams' version of her was one that still allowed viewers to connect with her during her successes or more endearing moments with her husband, Eric (Chris Messina).

The two women, often living their lives in different countries and decades, are constantly connected throughout the film by the recipes they make and the food they adore. The film jumps between the life of Julia Child before she before she became the celebrity chef - while she was traveling with her diplomat husband during the mid-20th century - and Queens, NY in 2002, the year Julie Powell cooked each and every one of Child's beloved, butter-filled recipes. While the constant back-and-forth could have been confusing, the clever transitions between scenes kept the viewer from getting lost. An especially perfect transition happened near the end of the film, when we see Julie Powell paying her respects to her idol in the museum dedicated to her, modeled exactly after Child's actual kitchen. As soon as that scene finishes, the camera focuses on the model kitchen itself, which, with a gradual change of lighting, becomes the real-life kitchen of Julia Child, proved by Streep's entrance into the scene moments later.

This movie does an incredible job of transporting viewers to unknown locales through its fabulous costumes, scene setting, characters, and of course, the cooking. Julie & Julia is a unique film that straddles various eras and countries to bring two women together through their love of good food, something nearly everyone, whatever their taste in movies, can relate to. A film full of heart and the world's sensuous pleasures, it is the only appropriate tribute to such a beloved culinary icon as Julia Child.

Learn more about this author, Lauren Haslett.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.