(Cannes) Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel met again after 20 years of absence for The passion of Dodin Bouffanta romance film set against a backdrop of old-fashioned French gastronomy, which whetted everyone’s appetite.
Revealed in Cannes 30 years ago thanks to The smell of green papayafeature film winner of the Caméra d’or (awarded to the best first feature film, all sections combined), Tran Anh Hùng distinguished himself on Wednesday by presenting an appetizing film (to say the least!), inspired by a fictional character invented by the Franco-Swiss writer Marcel Rouff a century ago.
A bit like the Babette’s Feast, a drama by Gabriel Axel that marked international cinema in the 1980s, the Franco-Vietnamese filmmaker places gastronomy at the heart of his story. The first 20 or 30 minutes of The passion of Dodin Bouffant are also devoted to the preparation of a sumptuous meal – we think that dozens of guests are expected there are so many things, but in the end there will only be five around the table –, where Eugénie Chatagne (Juliette Binoche) has the opportunity to showcase his immense talent.
A preview of the book…
Inspired by a novel that Marcel Rouff published in 1924, entitled The life and passion of Dodin-Bouffant, gourmet, which begins with the death of one of the characters, Tran Anh Hùng had the happy idea of imagining what happened before this tragedy. Bringing together Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel on a film set, two actors who had not played opposite each other for 20 years, the filmmaker also evokes a special relationship between two people who have lived under the same roof for two decades. The fact that the two stars have already formed a “real” couple in life necessarily adds accents of truth to the case, at least in the mind of the spectator.
PHOTO CAROLE BETHUEL, PROVIDED BY GAUMONT
Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel in The passion of Dodin Bouffanta film by Tran Anh Hung
Beyond recipes and cooking techniques (we often think of the famous French TV show The kitchen of the musketeers), is the other interesting aspect of this feature film. The cook and the gastronome are so accomplices on the culinary level that they develop feelings.
There has already been talk of marriage between the two, but Eugenie has always resisted. The delicacy with which Tran Anh Hùng recounts the nature of this bond between two beings who have reached a more mature age is beautiful to see. The two actors, who are said to both excel in the kitchen, are believable through and through and deliver superb compositions.
It should be noted that Pierre Gagnaire, three-star chef, acted as a consultant. After Club Zero, by Jessica Hausner, and her sect advocating a total absence of food, here is quite a contrast. Everything here is beautifully filmed, sublimely lit. The fluidity of the staging, which includes several sequence shots, also contributes to the success of the whole.
Geniuses, one after the other
The notion of transmission is important here. Several references are made to an older chef, Antonin Carême (Talleyrand’s cook), as well as to another, Auguste Escoffier, whom Bouffant says “makes us dream of the future”. In the eyes of Tran Anh Hùng, it seemed important to give a precise image of the sequence of geniuses of gastronomy during this period.
PHOTO JOEL C RYAN, INVISION, SUPPLIED BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
The passion of Dodin Bouffant is the seventh feature film by Tran Anh Hùng.
“Only thirteen years separate the death of Antonin Carême and the birth of Auguste Escoffier who, with César Ritz, was to set up an empire of culinary art in Europe with their palaces – first in Monaco, then in London and finally in Paris”, explains the filmmaker in notes given to journalists.
“Escoffier and Ritz were the first to have grasped the importance of the beauty of places, that of light, to serve as a showcase for the kitchen. Even today, when they are going through an existential crisis, the greatest chefs in the world open Escoffier’s book to find inspiration and energy. This book remains their bible. »
The only downside about this work, which we will know on Saturday whether it will have seduced the jury: presenting a film that makes festival-goers salivate as much as they have, for the most part, have not had time to have a meal worthy of the name since a week is a bit cruel. There, it is said!