Haute Cuisine (2013)

The French love food. They talk about what to have for lunch at breakfast and what to have for dinner at lunch. "Haute Cuisine" took me back to Paris and that love for food. Mlle. Frot was a wonderful chef and the food produced by someone (WHO???) was spectacular. Savoy cabbage stuffed with salmon. Oh my.The only jarring note was the actor who played "Le President." Too old to be Mitterand.I'll watch this again to capture her recipe for the salad dressing and the name of the cookbook Le President loved.BTW is she still alive and cooking?

Part of the appeal that drew me into beginning to watch this movie was the thought that it may have a bit of a show detailing some of the more eclectic french cuisine. While there was a bit of that, the food was definitely not as big of a character in the picture as I had assumed. We get to see the side of the main character, Hortense, that is a dedicated chef and detail oriented person. And the real treat of the movie is watching that personality deal with the challenge of being the executive private chef. Overall, the characters in this movie really make it special. And while the pace of the movie is very even, and almost predictable, it is still a special slice of life type movie that I walked away from uplifted.

Being the president's chef at the Elysée Palace is of course an honour which compares to nothing else. No woman has been worthy of the title before. Not until now.No surprise she gets difficulties from male colleagues. No matter she retaliates by the most complicated receipts, although the president says he longs for simple food from his childhood. It's almost parodic and makes you long for something from the fridge.A rather common against-all-odds flick. You know what will happen and it happens. And you will think twice before you enter a good French restaurant again. You're not worthy

The spoiler revealed in this review is that there is no dramatic tension whatsoever in this work.This was a revoltingly bad movie. The subject matter ought to make this an easy movie to watch, with opportunities to showcase haute cuisine in a lavish environment, while celebrating some interesting characters. The incompetence of the direction, however, makes this film a slog to get through. First off, the story is told via a halting and awkward flashback device. There is absolutely no dramatic reason for that and the rhythm of the film suffers greatly for it. It only serves the need to provide some variation in the visuals (or the desire of the producers to travel to Antarctica) and to introduce a few more totally throwaway characters. Second, and more important, the movie fails spectacularly at elevating what is by rights something quite trivial - the non-problems of a chef working for a rarefied clientèle - into something worthy of a dramatic recreation. Whenever something that vaguely looks like an obstacle is introduced, the situation is immediately resolved to the protagonist's favor, although she will continue to pout and complain and be exhausted by it. The director also makes some token efforts at humor, but they are vague and they only underline the lack of anything serious to distract you from. Even in the end, when the protagonist resigns from her post, she can offer no reason for it. I can only presume that she was as bored by what happened in the previous two hours as I.