There are few names more instantly recognizable to a vast group of people than the name Julia Child. Whether familiar with her writing, Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961), or her television work, The French Chef (1962-73), chances are you have some knowledge of her existence, but you may not be as aware of the intricacies of her life. The new film, simply titled Julia, from documentarians, Julie Cohen and Betsy West (whose last film was the Oscar-nominated RBG in 2018), chronicles Child’s ascendency to superstardom via a thorough and remarkably engaging piece that, although it refrains from offering up any surprising revelations on its subject, does succeed in creating an intimate portrait of this fascinating and iconic woman.
Although the details of Child’s journey to becoming the influential personality she was may not come as a surprise to most, as she is, of course, an extremely well-researched subject, the film manages to transcend simple storytelling to tell the tale of a strong, determined woman who had a profound impact on the perceptions many Americans had about food, among other things. The way in which Cohen and West weave archival footage, first-person interviews from the likes of Ina Garten and Charles Gibson (among many others), as well as personal photos and other ephemera together gives the film’s narrative a grounded and well-centered base. It is from this core that the film unfurls its empowering story of a woman finding fame in her fifties after serving in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II and subsequently meeting and marrying her loving and extremely supportive husband Paul.
Editor Carla Gutierrez does a phenomenal job of piecing all of the elements in the film together – especially the many mouth-watering sequences of food being prepared shot by cinematographer Claudia Raschke – to allow the narrative to flow as effortlessly as it does. There is an elegance to the narrative of Julia that, although not particularly groundbreaking in any way, does a superlative job of telling the story of its fascinating subject in a way that ensures her name will endure far longer than Julia herself may have ever thought it would have.
| Producer: | Betsy West, Julie Cohen, Sara Bernstein, Justin Wilkes, Holly Siegel |
| Release Date: | November 12, 2021 |
| Running Time: | 95 minutes |
| Starring: | Julia Child (Self) |
| MPAA Rating: | PG-13 (for brief strong language/sexual reference, and some thematic elements) |
| Director: | Julie Cohen, Betsy West |
| Distributor: | Sony Pictures Classics |
| External Info: | Official Site / Facebook |
