Last time Benoît Magimel appeared in the Cannes competition, a vision in Albert Serra’s Pacifiction, he played a foreign diplomat who stalked an island of French Polynesia like a trashy king. If Serra’s otherworldy film told a cautionary tale about feckless Euro-decadence, Magimel’s latest is more like a revelry. Adapted from Marcel Rouf’s 1924 novel The Passionate Epicure, The Pot-au-Feu is a film about the pleasures of preparing food and consuming it, the idea of cooking as an act of giving and even of love––if a leitmotif exists in this film’s script, it is the sigh of ecstasy.
The Pot-au-Feu is directed by Tran Anh Hung, a Vietnamese filmmaker who broke out at Cannes in 1993 with The Smell of Green Papaya. For Pot-au-Feu, Magimel stars as Dodin Bouffant, a restaurant owner and famed gourmet––or, as one character christens him, “the Napoleon of the culinary...
The Pot-au-Feu is directed by Tran Anh Hung, a Vietnamese filmmaker who broke out at Cannes in 1993 with The Smell of Green Papaya. For Pot-au-Feu, Magimel stars as Dodin Bouffant, a restaurant owner and famed gourmet––or, as one character christens him, “the Napoleon of the culinary...
- 6/20/2023
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
There’s food porn, which shows like Chef’s Table and Top Chef, not to mention last year’s horror hit movie The Menu, have turned into widely popular entertainment. And then there’s art house food porn, a subgenre that possibly dates back to Marco Ferreri’s 1973 satire La Grande Bouffe, and whose other examples include Babette’s Feast, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Tampopo, Chocolat and Like Water for Chocolate. The latter films tend to be made in a language other than English, and they’re less about chefs competing for Michelin stars, or glowing reviews from Pete Wells, than about food as a way of life.
Where else but France, then, as the setting for the latest, and certainly one of the most appetizing, art house food porn flicks to come along in a while? Tràn Anh Hùng’s The Pot-au-Feu (La Passion du Dodin-Bouffant) is...
Where else but France, then, as the setting for the latest, and certainly one of the most appetizing, art house food porn flicks to come along in a while? Tràn Anh Hùng’s The Pot-au-Feu (La Passion du Dodin-Bouffant) is...
- 5/24/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Harold Pinter theatre; Barbican, London
Trevor Nunn began the summer by directing a heavy-handed Kiss Me Kate; he ends it by staging a star-encrusted but tepid Chorus of Disapproval. What a waste. Of Alan Ayckbourn, whose 1984 play has not been taken seriously, and therefore looks unfunny. And of Nunn, who has been innovative (Nicholas Nickleby) and meticulous (his Merchant of Venice was a revelation because of its detail), and who has helped (with Gorky's Summerfolk) to widen the theatrical repertoire but is in danger of looking fusty.
Rob Brydon fans may think his performance alone is enough to justify the price of a ticket. He certainly provides the high points of the evening. As the director of the Pendon Light Operatic Society's amateur production of The Beggar's Opera, Brydon is hangdog and top dog: bullying, cardiganed, down in the dumps, overweening. He unleashes a terrific riff when, while trying out...
Trevor Nunn began the summer by directing a heavy-handed Kiss Me Kate; he ends it by staging a star-encrusted but tepid Chorus of Disapproval. What a waste. Of Alan Ayckbourn, whose 1984 play has not been taken seriously, and therefore looks unfunny. And of Nunn, who has been innovative (Nicholas Nickleby) and meticulous (his Merchant of Venice was a revelation because of its detail), and who has helped (with Gorky's Summerfolk) to widen the theatrical repertoire but is in danger of looking fusty.
Rob Brydon fans may think his performance alone is enough to justify the price of a ticket. He certainly provides the high points of the evening. As the director of the Pendon Light Operatic Society's amateur production of The Beggar's Opera, Brydon is hangdog and top dog: bullying, cardiganed, down in the dumps, overweening. He unleashes a terrific riff when, while trying out...
- 9/29/2012
- by Susannah Clapp
- The Guardian - Film News
The Oscar-winner on her return to the stage, working with R-Patz, and her constant fight to preserve privacy
You're in London playing the title role in Miss Julie – or rather Mademoiselle Julie, a modern-day production of the Strindberg play by Frédéric Fisbach. Aside from being in French, is it much different from the original?
I hope it's different; when a text has been played over and over, you hope to get a new view of it. When I reread it, I was struck by how modern the play is, in what it says about women and the consequences of emancipation. However, the aristocratic side of the play seemed a little old to me. I feel like the more significant differences in France today are between immigrants and non-immigrants. I thought it would be so interesting if Jean [the servant with whom Julie, a count's daughter, has an ill-fated love affair] was, for example, a north African man dealing with a white woman.
Do you feel sympathy for Julie?...
You're in London playing the title role in Miss Julie – or rather Mademoiselle Julie, a modern-day production of the Strindberg play by Frédéric Fisbach. Aside from being in French, is it much different from the original?
I hope it's different; when a text has been played over and over, you hope to get a new view of it. When I reread it, I was struck by how modern the play is, in what it says about women and the consequences of emancipation. However, the aristocratic side of the play seemed a little old to me. I feel like the more significant differences in France today are between immigrants and non-immigrants. I thought it would be so interesting if Jean [the servant with whom Julie, a count's daughter, has an ill-fated love affair] was, for example, a north African man dealing with a white woman.
Do you feel sympathy for Julie?...
- 9/22/2012
- by Killian Fox
- The Guardian - Film News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.