Julie & Julia

Julie & Julia / Julie & Julia. US (c) 2009 Columbia. EX: Donald J. Lee, Jr., Scott Rudin, Dana Stevens. P: Nora Ephron, Laurence Mark, Amy Robinson, Eric Steel. D+SC: Nora Ephron - based on the book (2005) by Julie Powell based on her blog (2002) - based on the book My Life in France (posthumous, 2006) by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme. DP: Stephen Goldblatt - colour - 1,85:1 - 2K digital intermediate: EFilm. M: Alexandre Desplat. CAST. Meryl Streep (Julia Child), Amy Adams (Julie Powell), Stanley Tucci (Paul Child), Chris Messina (Eric Powell), Linda Emond (Simone Beck), Helen Carey (Louisette Bertholle), Mary Lynn Rajskub (Sarah), Jane Lynch (Dorothy McWilliams), Joan Juliet Buck (Madame Brassart), Crystal Noelle (Ernestine), George Bartenieff (Chef Max Bugnard). Released in Finland by Walt Disney Motion Picture Studios Finland with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Anna-Leea Heinonen / Joanna Erkkilä. Viewed at Tennispalatsi 4, Helsinki, 26 Dec 2009.

The first mainstream film based on a blog.

One of the all-time best films on cooking, based on the life of Julia Child (1912-2004), author, together with Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck, of Mastering the Art of French Cooking I-II (1961, 1970). In Finnish: Ranskalaisen keittiön salaisuudet (1968), copies of which also belong to the library of my wife Laila. Julia Child made also 12 television series on cooking, which are also available on dvd. Her magnum opus as a book and on video is The Way to Cook (1989). Her husband was Paul Child (1902-1994).

I liked Sleepless in Seattle a lot, and this may be Nora Ephron's best film (I haven't seen them all).

I am not at all familiar with the tv persona of Julia Child, but I enjoyed Meryl Streep's performance very much. It's mannered, exaggerated, a caricature, yet affecting and with a ring of emotional truth. Stanley Tucci gives a less flamboyant but brilliantly timed performance as her husband.

One of the best films of the year.