Haute Cuisine directed by Christian Vincent is a film based on the true story of Daniele Mazet-­Delpeuch, starring Catherine Frot, winner of the 1996 Cesar Award (Best Actress Supporting role Un air de Famille). Frot portrays the fictional character Hortense Laborie, a modest provincial chef and restaurant-owner in the late 1980s who has been summoned by French President, François Mitterrand to be his personal cook at his official residence, “le Palais de l’Elysée”. Mitterrand wants Hortense to re-create the kind of meals the president’s grandmother used to make. Haute Cuisine is co-written by Christian Vincent and Etienne Comar (Of Gods and Men).

The film has lavish cinematography by Laurent Dailland (Le Grand Méchant Loup, 2013). The visuals and descriptions of the food will make your salivary glands go into overdrive. Veteran French author Jean d’Ormesson (novelist, journalist and dean of the Académie Française) is very convincing as “Le President” and proves that inside ‘every grown man is a boy longing for grandma’s cooking’. Frot’s performance is outstanding as we see her wending her way through bureaucracy, political pettiness, male chauvinists and dieticians. The music, the snappy script and the editing carry the story along so quickly it feels almost like a thriller. Haute Cuisine joins a selection of wonderful films including “Babette’s Feast,” “Like Water for Chocolate” and “Julie & Julia”.

Warning: do not watch this film on an empty stomach.

Christophe Chanel