Haute Cuisine (2012) User Reviews

544th Review: Cooking for the President's taste...and ours...

[intelearts · 6/10 · 5 July 2013]

Les Saveurs du Palais is for those who like their dramas without the drama - it offers some insight to French internal politics, but much more, it is simply a charming way to celebrate la cuisine francaise.

A gentle, well-made drama-comedy based on the real-life experiences of Danièle Delpeuch who really was Mitterand's cook - this fictional account places heavy emphasis on the food and takes us on a journey to the heart of the French cuisine - perfection and simplicity. The film starts on Antartica's Crozen Island and through flashbacks we see how the president's personal cook, fictinally named, Hortense Laborie, ended up there.

Catherine Frot has become one of France's best actresses for dramas that require a still, calm, composed center, with the hint that passion is simmering under the surface - her slightly bemused but determined trademark style makes this film work - it is a wonderful solo performance - and she is in every scene - and she brings a delicacy to the role that makes the film a delight to watch.

Not surprisingly perhaps the film lacks a little when it comes to conflict and drama - there is good drama - but, it is rather a look into the Champs Elysée and its internal workings. A strong supporting cast, particularly her young sous-chef (Arthur Dupont), who is rapidly becoming a name in French cinema, and the President (Novelist Jean D'Ormesson - who is a superb and prolific biographer but is not a professional career actor). Director Christian Vincent makes great use of permission to film in and around the president's palace and like the food the two settings, the Champs Elysée and in Antartica's Crozen Island lift the film.

Overall, this is a charming, and interesting take on food and it's place throughout French society - it is well worth your time.

Hits the spot – mostly – but this is good, rather than special. Don't go into the cinema hungry!

[shawneofthedead · 6/10 · 28 December 2013]

Have you ever caught yourself planning where to have dinner… even while you're eating lunch? Singapore, as all who live here know very well, is a nation obsessed with good food. As far as humanly possible, many of us live to eat, rather than eat to live. So it's easy to see how a treat like Haute Cuisine – a thoroughly French film that greatly reveres the art and mastery of cooking – might hit the spot with local audiences.

No-nonsense, straight-talking Hortense Laborie (Catherine Frot) – inspired by the real-life Danièle Mazet-Delpeuch – runs her own truffle farm in the French countryside. One day, she's rushed down to Paris to meet a potential employer: the President of France (Jean d'Ormesson), who's modelled after François Mitterrand. With the help of her sous-chef Nicolas (Arthur Dupont), Hortense prepares culinary feasts for a man who hankers after the down-to-earth home cooking of his childhood, even as she's forced to deal with politics and jealousy in the kitchens and corridors of the Élysée Palace.

As a main course, Haute Cuisine serves up much for discerning movie- goers to savour. Hortense emerges as a formidable presence, her strength of character shining through her battles with the unwelcoming men in charge of the Palace's main kitchen. (Mazet-Delpeuch was the first female chef to serve in the Palace.) Her conspiratorial friendships with Nicolas and Jean-Marc Luchet (Jean-Marc Roulot), the President's maître d, are charmingly developed and effectively juxtaposed with her year-long sojourn in Antarctica spent cooking for a very different set of consumers. The film is beautifully shot, making good use of its access to the Palace grounds and lingering lovingly over Hortense's culinary masterpieces.

Just don't expect to have your mind blown or your tastebuds completely tantalised. This is a competent, solidly-made film, but it trades a sense of dramatic urgency for its more gastronomic delights. Hortense's creations will have you salivating in your seat, rich and clearly delicious. Her few face-to-face meetings with the President, however, are sweet and understated rather than the stuff of history. Ultimately, Haute Cuisine is the cinematic equivalent of a good, solid meal – satisfying but not necessarily something to shout from the roof-tops about.

An exaltation of cooking and good food

[yris2002 · 7/10 · 18 August 2013]

Movies and food get on very well, and no doubt "Les saveurs dans le Palais" is no exception. There's a strange magic in movies dealing with cooking and when I come across a movie like this I always feel fascinated and relaxed. In this case the creation of good food is in the hands of Hortense Laborie, who works in the kitchen of the Elysee Palace, but she is able to put the same passion when she is cooking in a South Antartict base. In both settings she shows the same love for food, for looking for good food. Undoubtedly, the most charming part is the one set in the Palace, where we can see, almost smell the fragrance of her dishes, made of highly selected ingredients, although never lacking a home-made touch. And this is the most appealing part of the movie, which for the rest lacks something in terms of psychological insight of the characters. Hortense herself stands up for her passion for food, and indeed cooking is the only means other characters and we as viewers have to get in touch with her. From the beginning till the end she remains mysterious and a little detached from others, always ready to leave when she starts to put down roots. In general, the movie seems too focused on the preparation and the exaltation of wonderful dishes, that everything else seems not to deserve that same attention. But this is a typical feature of movies like this, and also its strong point, I was fascinated by Hortense preparing, and earlier by her describing the recipes, by her naming each ingredient accompanying it with its provenience, and then, of course, by her realizing the recipe as if it were a work of art. In the end, a pleasant picture to see ... and to taste.

Charming characters

[d-seymore · 7/10 · 6 May 2014]

Part of the appeal that drew me into beginning to watch this movie was the thought that it may have a bit of a show detailing some of the more eclectic french cuisine. While there was a bit of that, the food was definitely not as big of a character in the picture as I had assumed.

We get to see the side of the main character, Hortense, that is a dedicated chef and detail oriented person. And the real treat of the movie is watching that personality deal with the challenge of being the executive private chef.

Overall, the characters in this movie really make it special. And while the pace of the movie is very even, and almost predictable, it is still a special slice of life type movie that I walked away from uplifted.

Catherine Frot is a Magical Screen Presence

[gregorybnyc · 7/10 · 25 February 2014]

I've only seen Catherine Frot in one other movie--Coline Serreau's stunningly complicated CHAOS and she was marvelous. So when HAUTE CUISINE showed up on Netflix, I jumped at it. I love movies about food--WHO IS KILLING THE GREAT CHEFS OF EUROPE?, BIG NIGHT, MOSTLY MARTHA, EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN, BABETTE'S FEAST. They almost always manage to find humanity, absurdity and gently funny moments associated with food. Based on the real story of the first female chef who comes to cook for President Mitterand at the Elysee Palace, HAUTE CUSINE is a sweetly earnest story of Hortense Laborie, a fine French cook who is pulled away from her truffle farm in France to become the personal chef of the French president. Along the way she will encounter the petty and mean-spirited competition from the all-male kitchen that serves the palace, as she works tirelessly to provide the President with the foods he remembers from his childhood. The story is told in flashbacks as Hortense s finishing up a year-long stint as a cook for a research group in Anartica.

What makes the film work is the casting of Catherine Frot as Hortense. This superb actress gives Hortense a tense, focused and convincing believability. Horrtense arouses total loyalty from her sous chef and maitre'd as the palace personalities around her make life often rather difficult. Losing her calm only once, Frot has a confrontation in the movie that is a very satisfying answer to the pettiness she is surrounded by at the Palace. It is in stark contrast to the grateful affection she is shown by the men she cooks for every day in coldly forbidding Anartica.

HAUTE CUISINE is a quiet film of disarming charm. It doesn't break new ground, but it is a very satisfying movie which Catherine Frot at its center. Some have complained here that is a trifle and I'm not entirely disagreeing, but it is a movie worth seeing. I know I'll be seeing it again.

Ah, the tastes they are a-changin'

[guy-bellinger · 7/10 · 24 June 2013]

It is a strange thing that food and the movies go so well together. Strange because the show on a screen of food being prepared or being consumed should be anything but palatable insofar as it can be seen but not tasted or even smelled. And yet, the eating process, whether it is the main subject of a movie ('Babette's Feast', 'Eat Drink Man Woman', 'A Chef in Love', among others) or only an incidental feature (most strikingly so in nearly all of Hitchcock or Chabrol's thrillers), is not far from being a guarantee of quality. The reason may lie in the fact that directors who choose as their heroes characters cooking or eating refined food also vote for what is associated with it: the art of living ; as a matter of fact hedonism is a notion that passes directly from authors to viewers without the disadvantage of frustration. Whatever the explanation, the rule is verified once again with "Les Saveurs du Palais", eclectic French filmmaker Christian Vincent's last opus. The main theme is of course haute cuisine, which would have been enough to make a good film, but the good news is that there is even more to "Les saveurs du Palais" than that. Not only will this fine movie make your mouth water but it will also give you food... for thought!

The story, somewhat loosely adapted from Danièle Delpeuch's memoirs, concerns Hortense Laborie (as Delpeuch is renamed in the film), French President François Mitterand's personal chef from 1988 to 1990. The chronicle of the two and a half years she spent in the kitchens of the Elysée Palace allow Christian Vincent to tell a multi-layered tale : "Les Saveurs du Palais" does not simply bear witness to the mastery of its hero's art of cooking it also makes the viewer discover little- tread territory (the presidential cooks' machismo, the rivalry between the Elysée Palace's two restaurant services, the new supremacy of technocrats who favor budget cuts over creativity, the tastes changing with the passing of time, the rather pathetic portrait of a President at the end of his rope). Continued interest is therefore ensured. The construction in flashback form is interesting and the direction good without being ostentatious. But what really determines the success of the film is the choice of its star, Catherine Frot. The actress is indeed just perfect in her role: she is every inch Hortense Laborie and arouses immediate identification. Another added value is Arthur Dupont in the role of her assistant. The young performer displays a very likable charm, made of bashfulness mixed with irony. The "couple" he forms with Catherine Frot is simply irresistible. To make a long story short, "Les saveurs du palais" is both a sensual and intelligent movie that will delight wide audiences. And I presume that you will be in that number. And that is not all, you can even double your pleasure by... having your meal AFTER seeing Christian Vincent's little treat, instead of BEFORE. Such a move will doubtless give an Elysian taste to what otherwise would have been mere food!

French Foodie drama.

[Mozjoukine · 30 April 2013]

The subject is OK and unfamiliar and 'Scope Eastmancolor production values are handsome - the close-ups of food are near obscenely gorgeous.

Catharine Frot and the cast (largely unfamiliar abroad, even with Hipolyte Gyradot in there) impress though the eighty five year old TV personality fronting as President of the French Republic does seem a bit too fragile and we have to wonder about the accent of the Australian TV reporter pursuing Catharine. The Elysses Palace and the remote Iceland expedition are intriguingly shown.

However we are left wanting the revelation, which they build up cross cutting the two situations, and it never arrives, stopping this from being more than a pleasant enough offering for the LADIES IN LAVENDER audience.

An ode to cooking but also a view on the wings of power from the kitchen

[johnpierrepatrick · 6/10 · 22 April 2020]

In this movie, we follow the steps of a woman chef that is proposed to be the personal cook of the French president. Of course, the main theme is cooking and the movie is an ode to a certain cooking, taking time, carefully selecting ingredients, that denotes personality.

A second interpretative framework is added to that - and makes seeing the film worthwile. We are indeed put in the wings of power. Of course, not the one of the politic advisers,, of the lobbyists, ... But from the kitchen, we can still smell the battles of influence (symbolized by the one with the central kitchen), the reluctance of change (a woman chef?), standardization and optimization against quality and taste (choice of ingredient, nutritionist against the chef cooking, ...), and finally the wear and tear power implies.

Catherine Frot and Arthur Dupont are displaying their talents in this movie (I'm more reserved about Jean d'Ormesson's performance but what else could be expect from him?).

In conclusion, a nice movie, it will not go down in history, but you will spend a nice moment. (A final note: do not watch it hoping to learn about Mitterrand, that is not what you'll get)

A delicious movie

[richard-1787 · 8/10 · 11 May 2016]

No one is going to nominate this as one of the 10 greatest movies of x. There is nothing cutting edge here, etc.

It is, however, an interesting story well told and very well acted, especially by Catherine Frot, who seems to do everything well. I've seen it twice now, and never once looked at my watch. It really holds you.

In part, of course, it is because it presents what is now, at least in part, a dying part of traditional French culture: a respect for food in all its potential richness, and a willingness to spend the time necessary to make and appreciate it. The meals that Hortense prepares aren't frou-frou. They don't, as the president says at one point, have little sugar roses on them. It's not how clever it looks.

It's how interesting the mixture of tastes are, an attention to taste and the freshness of ingredients that is necessary for those tastes, that French tradition holds to have been the gift of every good grandmother - NOT of expensive Parisian restaurants.

This could be compared to the wonderful but very American movie *Ratatouille*. Near the end of that, the evil food critic Anton Ego goes into ecstasy over a portion of ratatouille because it evokes the ratatouille that his mother used to make. A pretty simple dish. Not, granted, mac and cheese, but still, not complicated.

The dishes Hortense makes for le président, which repeatedly evoke memories of childhood, are NOT simple. They require both a lot of time and a lot of technique/knowledge regarding their preparation. That French grandmother did not make them in 15 minutes, but rather several hours, or even days for the preparation. It is, in short, a different vision of how grandmother spent her time, one that in each case is, I suspect, filtered through the values of the respective cultures. (TIME and KNOWLEDGE make for good food, vs. love makes for good food.)

I don't know if this all comes through in English subtitles. My copy of the film has no subtitles. But it's definitely worth a viewing. It didn't make me hungry - I can't imagine having access to such meals here in the U.S. - but it did emphasize that, even for a bunch of young Frenchmen such as those at the French base in Antarctica, there is still a respect for time and skill in food preparation that is one of the distinguishing hallmarks of French culture.

Charmingly underwhelming

[mallaverack · 6/10 · 18 August 2017]

This is not a bad film - with food prepared in such a grand setting as the Elysee Palace, we have the right ingredients for a movie of interesting visuals, but apart from this, everything else about "Haute Cuisine" is fairly lacklustre. Catherine Frot is terrific as chef Hortense but only within the context of her description and preparation of food. We learn very little about her and perhaps the chief reason being that this movie is virtually without a plot - despite initially foreboding deep conflict and resentment from other kitchen staff (entirely male), this is barely alluded to let alone shown. The flash-forwards to Hortense's next job at an outpost in Antarctica does very little to propel either plot or characterisation. I kept waiting for this side-story to shine some relevance on either plot or character but it failed to do so. The meetings between chef and president were very few and again, little was learnt from the conversations apart from the president's preference for simple, old-style cooking. I think viewers will be disappointed that this film promised understandable conflict of character and style and failed to deliver.

Having said this, the film can still be enjoyed as an interesting expose on a style of cooking and its preparation.

The highest at the highest's

[stensson · 5/10 · 25 July 2013]

Being the president's chef at the Elysée Palace is of course an honour which compares to nothing else. No woman has been worthy of the title before. Not until now.

No surprise she gets difficulties from male colleagues. No matter she retaliates by the most complicated receipts, although the president says he longs for simple food from his childhood. It's almost parodic and makes you long for something from the fridge.

A rather common against-all-odds flick. You know what will happen and it happens. And you will think twice before you enter a good French restaurant again. You're not worthy

Kitchen Cabinet

[writers_reign · 8/10 · 28 October 2013]

Catherine Frot has a new film out. Really that's all I need to know. Who cares if it's ultimately unsatisfying, it's a great all-round actress wearing her comedy hat, what more do you want. There's a nice in-joke that may well be lost on UK and USA viewers; the role of the President (Mitterand in all but name, the film is based on a book by Daniele Depeuch, who really was summoned to the Elysee Palace by Mitterand to be his personal chef) is played by Jean D'Ormesson, a journalist, not an actor who was, in real life, Mitterand's bete noir. Little more than a series of vignettes the film covers the two years that the chef from Perignord spent in the Elysee Palace, the backs she put up and the friends that she made. There is, for example, a recurring battle between chef and the treasurer who can't understand why the ingredients she needs for the provincial dishes favored by the president can't be sourced in local Paris markets and need to be shipped in. Bottom line? Catherine Frot has a new film out. Hooray!

It all depends on how you feel about gourmet food.

[heidibrideofchrist · 7/10 · 23 July 2021]

Harumph. I am positive. The second time I watched, some dialog and scenes were added. The first big issue presented in the film: respect for authority figures sometimes causes paralizing fear in employees. These authority figures have the power to cause very real damage to our lives and reputations if we perform badly in their employ. Hortense says very clearly at her interview that she does not think she is good enough for the President's private kitchen. They want her anyway. She did a marvelous job. Aside from the overabundance of meat, and an obsession with foie gras, the cooking scenes made the food look delicious. The meals were very attractively presented. The director made cooking look like fun. It was enjoyable to watch.

The film sheds light on another very important issue: certain people meddling in our labor when they are not trained in the field. The presidents advisors try telling Ms. Laborie what is or is not a sauce. They were wrong. She was right. She made broth, not sauce. A sauce usually has flour, a fat, sometimes an alcohol and a dairy product. These sauces are usually high in fat, but not always. She made broth. They told her it was a sauce and was not allowed in his diet because of health concerns.

No love interest for Hortense Laborie made the film a little unusual. Most films with adults as the main characters have at least one obligatory sex scene. The usual sexual tension in a film was replaced by the passion they all had for food. The French are world famous for their high quality cuisine, so I do think the film had interesting tension exactly because Hortense felt pressured to perform well in a tense environment. The head cook in the main kitchen made it clear he felt threatened by her. Neither the president nor his advisors told her very much about the dignitaries he would be dining with on a daily basis. Should she dress the plate to impress? Or not? How is she supposed to know? They never presented her with a budget. There was more than one episode of surprise lunch guests. Then without warning they want her to cook everything cheaper. After the oyster disaster, I would have quit, too. The ending was depressing. It was not a satisfying end to a film, but it did leave the door open to the future. The ending made the film a romantic. She is alone and facing a personal crisis.

How difficult can it be to make a film about food?

[johann_tor · 1/10 · 7 July 2013]

The spoiler revealed in this review is that there is no dramatic tension whatsoever in this work.

This was a revoltingly bad movie. The subject matter ought to make this an easy movie to watch, with opportunities to showcase haute cuisine in a lavish environment, while celebrating some interesting characters. The incompetence of the direction, however, makes this film a slog to get through. First off, the story is told via a halting and awkward flashback device. There is absolutely no dramatic reason for that and the rhythm of the film suffers greatly for it. It only serves the need to provide some variation in the visuals (or the desire of the producers to travel to Antarctica) and to introduce a few more totally throwaway characters. Second, and more important, the movie fails spectacularly at elevating what is by rights something quite trivial - the non-problems of a chef working for a rarefied clientèle - into something worthy of a dramatic recreation. Whenever something that vaguely looks like an obstacle is introduced, the situation is immediately resolved to the protagonist's favor, although she will continue to pout and complain and be exhausted by it. The director also makes some token efforts at humor, but they are vague and they only underline the lack of anything serious to distract you from. Even in the end, when the protagonist resigns from her post, she can offer no reason for it. I can only presume that she was as bored by what happened in the previous two hours as I.

Learn French cuisine in 90 minutes. I like the movie, I love the food a lot!

[smaxmo · 2 November 2015]

This is a real movie foodie's movie. Warning, after watching this movie you may think that you have culinary skills that you do not have. Or if you are like me, perhaps you do. I learned so much from this movie about cooking and plating. With all of the major food scenes time lapsed, all I had to do is play and pause on the recipes I wanted to create, and it worked out well for me. I think you could do it too. The story line is a bit fuzzy for me. The food was so captivating until I really didn't miss the story at all. The kitchens will make you drool as well if you are into high quality cookware and china, you will again love the movie.

Let's talk food. The food is as the title says, haute cuisine which in French mean High Cooking as in higher status folks eat this, high calorie, high cholesterol and high priced food making it the luxury gourmet food we all want to try at least once. The food stylist for this lovely romp through food land is Gérard Besson and to him I say, "Merci."

Tasty

[JoelChamp85 · 7/10 · 23 May 2021]

An interesting look into the world of Presidential food. The main actress is thrown into the uptight professional world of preparing meals for the President and company, but she herself isn't designed for that world, though her food has that hearty home cooked taste that the President loved during his childhood. So, she moves up the ladder very quickly, maybe a bit too quickly as she steps on the toes of those who have been in the business for a long time. I love seeing food on screen and this was presented very nicely amongst the story of this role she has accepted.

A Feast for the Gourmet and the Gourmand

[beverlydame · 9/10 · 15 February 2015]

The French love food. They talk about what to have for lunch at breakfast and what to have for dinner at lunch. "Haute Cuisine" took me back to Paris and that love for food. Mlle. Frot was a wonderful chef and the food produced by someone (WHO???) was spectacular. Savoy cabbage stuffed with salmon. Oh my.

The only jarring note was the actor who played "Le President." Too old to be Mitterand.

I'll watch this again to capture her recipe for the salad dressing and the name of the cookbook Le President loved.

BTW is she still alive and cooking?

Watchable but thin

[myriamlenys · 5/10 · 30 January 2020]

There are two things that provide this comedy/drama with a certain charm. The first is a fine, well-rounded lead performance and the second is a fly-on-the-wall look at the rarefied world of chefs who provide food to the high and mighty such as presidents, politicians and ambassadors. Turns out it's a not entirely pleasant workplace, since it is marred by evils like sexism, competition, privilege and byzantine quarrels over this style or that.

(Here the viewer will note that the French republic is very similar to the French monarchy, at least when it comes to spending great buckets of tax money in the name of prestige and excellence.)

However I can't say that I found the movie spellbinding. "Watchable but slight and bland" is probably the best description. I kept hoping that it would grow towards some kind of narrative climax, conflict or revelation, but this didn't happen. Moreover, much of the culinary subject matter was less than compelling.

Did President Mitterand like quail eggs in aspic ? Did he prefer his cabbage cooked or pickled ? Did he have fond memories of a cook from Marseilles who slipped him little tomato-based treats when he was small ? Did President Pompidou feel a deep aversion towards over-elaborate puddings ? Did he insist on authentic peasant cuisine from the north-east ? Did President Chirac like turkey sausage with wild garlic ? Did his spouse pick the edible flowers for the cocktails with her own fair hands ? I don't know and I don't care, just as I don't care about the gastronomic tastes of the current French president. The likes and dislikes of a fictional president interest me even less.

The movie should have been more - more extravagant, more spicy, more truthful, more witty, more political, more... Well, just "more" of something.

Keeps you wishing some more of it

[pekka-raninen-1 · 9/10 · 26 December 2018]

For me, the major setback was NOT knowing abt. any possible Vol. II. This is just the kind of film you realize right from the start you wish it never ends!

Is boring an understatement for this film?

[tecnodata · 4 March 2014]

I'm a bit surprised to find myself in disagreement with other reviewers but this movie is a) actually boring b) the actress, although a good professional, is actually that: a soulless professional c) the " president" is totally miscast d) even the recipes, in their farfetchedness, are completely uninteresting. The rhythm of the gags is repetitive, no plot, no drama. Just the usual surprised, smiling faces of the ( supposedly) typical Frenchmen when they hear yet another recipe declaimed by a loving, caring chef. One of the few films that I didn't finish watching and that can be easily forgotten. I'm sure that other people might disagree and I accept that but, sorry, that's my opinion.