The film just finished. I had been hesitant to even watch it because I'd heard a tiny handful of mixed reviews that stuck in my head. Now that I've seen the film, I realize my hesitation was not because I thought the film would not be good, but that it would (or those nay-saying voices would) ruin the experience that I had with the book. With both books.
I read Julie & Julia first. I was 28 and just finished with law school. I completed the bar exam and after a serious decompression and an emotional tear through the last Harry Potter book, I found Julie. And Julia. Or rather Julie's experience with Julia.
I've always loved Julia Child, but from afar and as a pop culture and food icon far removed from my actual cooking life. I didn't even attempt such recipes, even though I had a dog-eared and well-loved version of From Julia Child's Kitchen in my collection (nabbed lovingly from my grandmother's collection after she passed away a couple of years before). I have to admit, though, that I connected with the book on the level of the navel-gazing almost thirty year old who was a bit overwhelmed with life and wanting to find some purpose. And of course loved food.
My Life in France engendered a similar reaction, if that is even imaginable. The brightness of Julia's discovery of food and France and herself was fabulously inspiring to me. I read it about a year later, and it was at this point that I really discovered Julia. I heard her voice as she discovered the person that she would become after living an entire successful and happy life. She found her passion because it was still waiting for her (of course, in both food and Paul).
I cried my way through both books. With love, and hope, and interest, and commiseration. I cried my way through the film as well. Maybe I identified with all of the narcissistic self-absorbed aspects of Julie that I'd read about in the papers. Maybe that's what made her human. Maybe, at the bottom of it all, the stories really are parallel - they are all about discovery and love of food and a little bit of adventure. They are both beautiful. And satisfying. And inspiring.
Most of the things I wish to achieve over the next few years have to do with food and adventure and really making a life. If one really wants to sit down and make a life, it takes a little bit of self-absorption a la Julie and a lot of determination a la Julia. This film brought out the best of both and really touched me. It has become, thanks to Julie's book and the film, a bit of a cliche to re-invent yourself by cooking and discussing it online, but so it goes. And at the end of the day, cliche or not, it's all about Bon Appetit!
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