"And now we finish her off."
The scene where Julie flops on her bed, lamenting “Julia hates me!” is the only moment that made me credit writer/director Nora Ephron with any degree of insight and artistry, because in that moment Ephron acknowledges that Julie deserves no admiration for her kitchen marathon. Throughout Julie & Julia, it’s obvious that the supremely accomplished Julia Child would never have respected Julie Powell for turning the former’s masterpiece into the latter’s superficial stunt.
Streep is superb as Julia Child, making believable her passion for food and for cooking. She embodies Julia Child’s remark, “Once you have mastered a technique, you barely have to look at a recipe again.“
Julia also said, “I think of my strawberry souffle. I did that at least twenty-eight times before I finally conquered it.” Julie, on the other hand, succeeds the first time in nearly every recipe. As a result, she comes off as a kitchen automaton (or a liar). Poor Amy Adams tackled a thankless role. Only a fool/liar would attempt to cook 524 recipes in 365 days, let alone 524 French haute cuisine dishes from a two-volume tome that, incidentally, isn’t a simple cookbook. And by the way, the fool/liar would also have to be (1) wealthy enough to afford the rich and meaty ingredients and the lavishly equipped kitchen that the 524 recipes call for, and (2) willing to eat leftover boeuf Bourguignon or lamb stuffed with kidneys for breakfast or lunch.
Julie needed to have the soul of a gourmand. She doesn’t. She’s an imitation chef.
Meanwhile, Julia Child is the real thing, and then some: “Why languish as a giantess when it is so much fun to be a myth?”
I’m SO with you on this one. I was saddened by this film since the Julia & Paul Child scenes, directly from My Life in France, were so wonderful, and the Julie scenes so dreadful (not due to Amy Adams, but do to the self-absorbed and tiresome character she played). Saddest of all, now we’ll never see Meryl Streep playing Julia for the full movie that My Life in France deserved!
One more thing… you forgot Julia’s best quote:
“I think every woman should have a blowtorch.”
Alas, my blowtorch is on the fritz!
Not your blow torch!! Delighted you liked my summation. Most reviewers lined up to agree that Streep’s Julia segments are the only thing worth watching, but I haven’t read anybody who really took Julie to task for her parasitic and (almost certainly) mendacious blog and book.