I noticed several posters enjoyed Julia, streaming on HBO Max. I’m of mixed feelings and wondered if I’m alone.
On one hand, the casting, acting, sets, and costumes were all excellent and I moved quickly through the episodes. And the food all looked fabulous.
On the other hand, I had been expecting the story of how The French Chef got started and what it meant to public television. I understand there is a lot of creative license given to these kinds of dramatizations. But in this case, it seemed like the well documented true history got treated as a framework to showcase racism and sexism that certainly existed at that time. In doing so, however, they retrofitted Julia’s life, career, marriage, and friends to support those themes. Much of that contradicted what actually happened and was presented as “what could have happened.”
So I was disappointed in the end that I didn’t get the story I was hoping for, and that viewers might not be aware of how different reality was from the show. Several events not only didn’t happen, but never would have happened.
“This is kind of a fable based on the true story of Julia Child, and we’re using it to talk about things we want to talk about. And there are a lot of things we’re gonna talk about: marriage and social changes and workplace and second acts and all of that food.”
So I guess I would rather have seen the real story instead of a fable.
I have to admit I didn’t watch it all yet, but the starting episodes I watched, definitely showed her husband differently then what I have read in biographies about her. I thought he was completely supportive of her doing the show, not conned into letting her do it the way the series portrayed it.
It is like the difference in books between a biography and a historical fiction about a real person. Once you call it fiction you can do what you want.
I enjoyed Julie and Julia and was hoping for a similar vibe. It just seemed like the producers used Julia’s name to get viewers to push an agenda, which would have been more honestly served by creating fictional characters. Then they wouldn’t have turned Paul into Niles, and really annoyed at least one person who lived that experience.
Whereas I would be happy to have someone pre-prep and set up all my food when I’m cooking, and do all the cleanup afterwards, I’m not sure I would want to be stepping all over them! I was aware from sometime in the past about all that hidden help.
Back in the day, I videotaped the entire Dinner with Julia series where she went to the sources for the food and wine, then cooked the meal. I think I would replay stop-and-go so I could write down the recipes.
Julia’s real life was so fascinating and well documented. It would make an excellent series - plenty of real controversy - without fictionalizing it for an agenda.
