Have we ever seen a more beautiful declaration of love through fine dishes interposed in the cinema? Very freely inspired by a novel by the Swiss Marcel Rouff published in 1924, The Passion of Dodin Bouffant by Trân Anh Hùng, winner of the Best Director Award at the most recent Cannes Film Festival, is reminiscent of Babette’s Feast in its gastronomic excess.
Dodin Bouffant (Benoit Magimel) was considered at the end of the 19th century as the “Napoleon of the culinary art”, the equal of the great chefs Carême and Escoffier. At his side in the provinces for 20 years, Eugénie (Juliette Binoche), his assistant, cooks the refined dishes that Dodin designs.
There is more between them than gastronomic affinities. They are also lovers and lovers. But to Dodin’s despair, Eugénie stubbornly refuses to marry him. In a final attempt, he will meticulously prepare for her, with morbid precision and expert care, a meal worthy of a queen.
From the opening sequence, lasting more than 30 minutes, the Franco-Vietnamese filmmaker of Taste of Green Papaya (Caméra d’Or at Cannes in 1993), of Cyclo (Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1995) and Vertical Summer has its camera waltzing into the kitchen with its characters, in a sensual choreography of remarkable fluidity, while they prepare a feast for friends.
French quality, in the culinary art (the three-star Michelin chef Pierre Gagnaire acted as consultant) and cinematographic art, is expressed through this elegant, but academic and smooth film, chosen to represent France at the next ceremony Oscars in the category of best international film.
It is a certain idea – not to say a cliché – of France and its traditions, from pot-au-feu to Puligny-Montrachet, which is expressed in this ode by Trân Anh Hùng to his host land. . The didactic and pompous aspect of Dodin’s monologues on cooking is tiring, but even trapped in this straitjacket, Benoît Magimel and Juliette Binoche are luminous. We are moved like Eugénie by Dodin’s declaration of love, impressed by their know-how in the kitchen, which inevitably whets the appetite. Enough to excuse the film from certain excesses of classicism.
