Julie & Julia- Yesterday & today

Julie & Julia! Although a recent film but such a classic!! Mazaaaa hi aa gaya..dil khush ho gaya!  A very dear friend told me almost 2 years ago that I must see this film because he thought it had all the ingredients that I love. After watching it last night, I agree. It is a movie about two women (one of them played by my favorite Meryl Streep), France and cooking. to top it all it is based on true stories.

Julie and Julia are these two quintessentially modern women of their times looking for an outlet to explore themselves better. Of course, in layman terms, they were looking for something to do which was worth their while!! From the year 2002, Julie is the contemporary new age women with a new job that sucks, she seeks consolation in the one constant in her life i.e. if you put eggs, flour, chocolate and sugar together you get a batter beaten to death in order to reach heaven :-) She knows that cooking is the only thing that she can rely on to break away from everything inconsistent in her life including her residence that has recently shifted to the sad part of New York, Queens.  It is so true that while everything seems erratic in our lives we always take solace in that one thing we took to casually as a hobby like cooking, painting, sketching or for that matter writing. Sometimes, we don't really know if we have a 'book' in us but surely we do have a ton of anecdotes and small memories that are worth sharing. Blogs are brilliant because of that. I feel I am writing it for a select group of friends but god knows who all are reading it. Julie's effort to find a worthy one year was in taking up cooking challenge where she had 365 days to cook 524 of Julia Child's recipes.


Julie trying Julia's recipes




It is the same Julia whose story has been beautifully intertwined from the 1950's France to the present day of Julie who seeks inspiration from her. The first woman to take up an advanced French cooking class with only men in tug disliking her for bettering the perfection that they created in their tutorial kitchens, Julia was a natural! Sadly with no children and therefore ample time at hand, France was the perfect ground to find her a new something to learn. Her heart set in America still, she wrote recipes after recipes for the 'serventless American women'!


Reel & Real Julia Child

 Her struggles in finding her true calling are so relatable. After experimenting with learning a new language, then trying to make designer hats and then finally realising it is food that she really wants, Julia shows that unsure side of a woman who doesn't quite stop at a compromise for a choice. Once her book is taking shape she loses a publishing deal that she almost clinched. What she doesn't lose is hope! Dejected for a while, the support of a loving husband sees her through to finally a cook book!
 Julie on the other hand is potrayed as this lady who gets obsessed with Julia, her use of butter and has almost the same conviction to get through those 524 recipes in a year. However, she is reckless, consumed in one task at a time, and almost not as evolved as Julia. Julie let's go without giving it too much of a try. She is not cooking for a supportive husband but for  mission. Amazing how Julie was even more me... more 21st century with rationing time and juggling work and home, sometimes giving up on the personal time. At that time Julia is much of an inspiration. No wonder that Julie loves the butter smacking Julia.
   It's amazing how the maker of this masterpiece movie has been able to capture the truest, the simplest need in both Julia and Julie and in fact all of us women and that is to live a beautiful life...create something brilliant for everyone to marvel & most importantly ENJOY it ourselves :-) It can be our passion for stitching, knitting or even the professions we are in, it all gives us such joy. We are the wives, the mothers that have another something we love to do with our lives.
Now whether it is desperation to live a life full of color and creativity, i don't know but it is usually how I very happily see many of us living :-)