Salivating cinema, JULIA is a delicious documentary made by Betsy West and Julie Cohen who cooked up the Academy Award nominated RBG a couple of years ago.

JULIA is Julia Child, one of the modern era’s most entertaining and vibrant personalities who sparked a reevaluation of the culinary arts and a love of food in the United States as she seasoned her days with romance, curiosity, and a recipe for living life to the fullest.

Memorably portrayed by Meryl Streep in the feature film JULIE AND JULIA, the real Julia was a formidable foodie who stood over six foot and was an unabashed work in progress her entire life.

JULIA tracks Julia Child from her well-to-do childhood in Pasadena, California, to the Far East during World War II, where as an OSS worker she met her future husband Paul Child.

One of the few women to attend Paris’ Le Cordon Bleu school, Julia Child became a bestselling, late blooming author in her 50s thanks to the seminal cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

The trials, tribulations and tenacity to get that book published is an epic intrigue in itself!

An appearance on Boston public television led to her mega-successful public TV show The French Chef, decades of celebrity, and a dedication to teaching Americans the joys of cooking.

JULIA is the story of a woman conquering the male-dominated food world, but it’s also the evolution of a person, open to learn and to change. Brought up Republican, she evolved into a Democrat. Closet homophobic, she became a campaigner for HIV care. A  small f feminist – feed, fuck and flatter her man came before feminism – nevertheless she was a staunch advocate of Planned Parenthood.

Eye catching and mouth watering, JULIA is a celebration of a woman whose appetite for life is an inspiration to us all.

Photo:  Cuisine Queen, Julia Child

Richard Cotter