20 November 2009
	CINEMA The passionate cook By Peter Wilhelm Meryl Streep shows once again why she is considered a modern American national treasure

Nora Ephron has virtually invented the modern cinematic romantic comedy. Playing with Jane Austen's time-tested formula (attraction-repulsion-renewed love) she has signed off on such heart breakers and -warmers as Heartburn (1986), Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and You've Got Mail (1998). These are comic masterpieces. Some of her other films have not, alas, been as successful. Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci As writer (and generally producer) Ephron has the credentials for her task. Heartburn registers her marriage to the charismatic but feckless Carl Bernstein - who once, long ago, serially betrayed her. In Julie & Julia she enlists the force of Meryl Streep as the middle-aged Julia Child who, in addition to being the wife of an American ambassador in Paris, was also an author and pioneering television cook in the 1950s. She introduced French cuisine to the US. Streep is brilliantly over the top. But she is perfectly matched by Amy Adams as Julie, a New York blogger who in the early years of our new century set out to prepare 524 of Child's recipes in a year, and succeeded. Scenes shift between an earlier Paris and a tacky Queens as we follow the interwoven lives and marital fortunes of the protagonists. The upshot is a gentle, lovely guide to cookery as the way to a man's heart - indeed, as an entrée to sex. This is, of course, a variation on the romcom, which Ephron bases on Julia's cookbooks and letters, and Julie's blogs. The two women never meet, though Julie is aware of Julia as a muse and saviour. As Julia's husband, the feisty Stanley Tucci is shorter than Streep, though no less given to wickedly erotic double entendres about hen-stuffing. Chris Messina as Julie's man is not quite as indulgent - he feels a little left out by the frantic cooking - but, like Adams, suggests a yearning to fly free of the post-9/11 devastation. At one stage Julie is prostrated by an apparent panic attack, and Messina can only egg her on (so to speak) to greater achievements. I can think of no other film that has as its climax the successful deboning of a chicken. Vegetarians will not like Julie's execution of some lobsters. Julie & Julia may seem to linger unnecessarily over some dishes; but the interplay of past and present is deeply intriguing. Streep and Tucci are stoutly democratic, abhorring McCarthyism back home; Adams and Messina must deal with the mind-blanking fact of gaping wounds in their city. What links the couples is the support of their friends, and their mutual engagement with the kitchen. Julie & Julia Written and directed by Nora Ephron Lead roles: Meryl Streep Amy Adams Stanley Tucci Chris Messina Irrepressibly, there arises what must be called the feminist question. Is being a good - great - cook all there is to female liberation? Obviously not; but then there is feminism and feminism. Streep is no slouch at projecting womanly individualism and passion. Compare her extraordinary performances in such diverse movies as Out of Africa (1985), Heartburn, and now Julie & Julia. Each is distinct and has been rewarded by honours and box-office receipts. She is a true American national treasure, chameleon-like in her adaptability. For her part, Adams is a young woman in travail. Day after day she has to deal with a flood of calls to her official cubicle where she must seek to deal with grief spilt by those who lost loved ones in 9/11. Her assault on Child's repertoire is more than an attempt to heal a private, fractured relationship; it is, too, an attempt to offer her partner and circle a succession of gifts which affirm her identity. I cannot dissent from David Denby's judgment in The New Yorker - that Julie & Julia is among the "most charming American movies of the past decade". It is also very, very funny.