in the center “The Passion of Dodin Bouffant”Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung’s new film chronicles the moving relationship between a successful gourmet (Benoit Magimel) and the extraordinary chef living in an uncertain past who has worked for him (Juliette Binoche) for 20 years. But the first of the Palme d’Or contenders shown today, the film is also – above all? – a tribute to France’s gastronomic and wine heritage. -the director lived there all his life- and it’s a tribute to good food and the art of cooking well.
In the dazzling stage that occupies the first half hour, the process of preparing a magnificent feast is shown in all details. -consommé, vol-au-vous seafood, custard turbot, baked lamb with Brussels sprouts, the perfect dessert known as the Norwegian Omelette – will be marinated in the best broths the moment it’s consumed, and what happens next? It is a demonstration of both the love that cooking the perfect meal takes and the love that eating it conveys, the observance of the rituals and rules that govern the kitchen, and the justification of the joy that causes a life devoted to food hedonism and indulgence of the palate. and stomach.
And Tran’s knack when it comes to communicating the sensuous with images and sounds -She’s already shown this in movies like ‘The scent of green papaya’ (1993) and ‘Midsummer’ (2000)- she doesn’t just make our mouths water while watching the movie; A portrait of love based on shared devotion to the stove is also filled with overwhelming eloquence, and his defense that even the most painful sorrows can be alleviated with the right menu.
Moretti and the belly button
Italian Nanni Moretti won the Palme d’Or for ‘The Son’s Room’ (2001), but the film that best exemplifies her career is ‘Caro Diario’ (1993), a comic book story animated by a neurotic filmmaker. he is the same. Since then, he has returned to that ‘alternative self’, both behind the camera and in front of the camera at the same time: in ‘Abril’ (1998) he emphasized his political vein, in ‘Mia Madre’ he focused on family life. and now with ‘Future sun’ -also presented at the French competition this Wednesday- It shows that he wants to evaluate his life, work, and beliefs from a position closer to onism than to self-criticism.
The protagonist of the movie, a director named Giovanni, who is Moretti’s real name, is depressed and immersed in the shooting of a movie about communism in Italy in the 50s; his wife is rightly fed up with him, and the art to which he dedicates his life is dying, among other factors, because of Netflix and the public’s enjoyment of gratuitous violence. while looking at her, the film functions as a walk in ‘Nanniverso’ or a self-organized retrospective by Nanni Moretti.. And in the process, it makes clear to what extent the narrative method that puts itself on the map, based on a very special approach to autofiction, sentimentality and surrealism, is damaged by the elements caused by the passage of time.