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An Absurdly Compelling Tale of Culinary Ladder Climbing in Haute Cuisine

A A A Comments (0) By Chuck Wilson Wednesday, Sep 18 2013

An Absurdly Compelling Tale of Culinary Ladder Climbing in <i>Haute Cuisine</i>

Location Info

Map

Landmark Sunshine Cinema

143 E. Houston St.
New York, NY 10002

Category: Movie Theaters

Region: Lower East Side

2 user reviews	Write A Review
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Lincoln Plaza Cinemas

1886 Broadway
New York, NY 10023

Category: Movie Theaters

Region: West 60s

Details

Haute Cuisine
Directed by Christian Vincent
The Weinstein Company
Opens September 20, Landmark Sunshine and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas

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Over time, French president François Mitterrand grew weary of the fancy foods being dished up by his chefs, and so it came to pass that a little-known provincial cook was invited, in the late 1980s, to take over the president's kitchen. In this diverting, fictionalized version of the story, Hortense Laborie (Catherine Frot) is stunned by the offer, but quickly rises to the challenge set forth by Mitterrand (87-year-old newcomer Jean d'Ormesson, who is marvelous): "If you cook for me like my grandmother cooked for me, I'll be perfectly happy." Writer-director Christian Vincent and co-writer Étienne Comar, aided by Frot's quiet intensity, imbue Hortense's quest to pull off culinary miracles with an urgency that's almost absurdly compelling, and all the more entertaining for it. The film is intercut with sequences depicting Hortense's decidedly unglamorous post-palace life, when she became the cook for dozens of men on an Antarctic science expedition. The juxtaposition of environments is interesting, but, as if scrambling to draw tears from an unsentimental main character, Vincent overplays the men's long, emotional goodbye to the retiring Hortense. It's a slight fumble in an otherwise sleek, charming little movie that may do wonders for the truffle market.

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