movie: Julie & Julia

Wow. The rumors are true: there really is a character not even Amy Adams can make likable. Based partly on Julia Child’s memoir, My Life in France, and partially on Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell, a woman who created a blog to created all 524 recipes in 1 year hoping to use it to get famous, the movie succeeds in portraying Julia Child as an amazing, fascinating, and adorable woman, and Julie Powell as an attention hungry, self-serving twit.

Julie’s blog is supposed to be some sort of life-fulfilling, enlightening event for her, but it never comes across as more than a publicity stunt. And while Julie claims to idolize and Julia and find her amazing, she consistently seems to look down on Julia. The best example of this is likely the “climax” of Julie’s story, where she learns Julia (who loved cooking for cooking and for food, not fame) doesn’t like what Julie’s doing, and she and her husband agree that the important Julia Child isn’t the real Julia Child, but the Julia Child in Julie’s head, who’s her best friend and supports her. I mean, it’s one thing to say that you’re sorry your inspiration doesn’t like what you’re doing and you respect that, but what you’re doing is important to you. It’s another to say that they’re irrelevant because the idealized version of them in your head likes you.

Meryl Streep and Amy Adams are both in excellent form as Julia and Julie, but while Streep’s character and storyline can only favor her, Adams’s character and storyline are pretty much dead from her first few scenes.

Lord Greville's Captive by Nicola Cornick

I picked up several of Nicola Cornick’s books a few weeks ago after really enjoying the Christmas story of hers that I read, and was thrilled to see one was a Restoration Era romance.* I really like stories set then, but there don’t seem to be too many.

When they were young, Anne of Grafton and Simon, Lord Greville, were betrothed. Despite not knowing each other well, they were well on their way to falling in love when the marriage was called off due to Simon becoming a Parliamentarian, while his father and the Graftons were Royalists. Now, Grafton Manor has become a Royalist military stronghold, which is currently under siege from Simon’s forces. Anne hates the commander who has taken over her home, but she’s also been trusted to safeguard the king’s “treasure,” which could be used against him if discovered.

I tend to be rather neutral regarding “enemies as lovers” as a trope, though there are some I’m quite fond of, as it seems to often rely on the enmity to build the relationship and chemistry around, and I’m rarely convinced by it. I do, however, like stories about friends and/or lovers who become enemies, as there’s an established relationship and dynamic to build off of. Cornick does a good job of portraying Anne and Simon as respecting each other despite their clashing loyalties, and doesn’t fall into the normal trap of having one be on the “right” side, and the other on the “wrong” side.

Unfortunately, the plot takes a negative turn in the last leg on several fronts, and while it mostly recovers from it, I wasn’t able to enjoy the last 60 or so pages as much as I had the earlier parts. I was also a bit surprised at how serious (and often understandably angsty) it was, as the Christmas story I read was rather light and fun. (Far from a bad thing, but they have very different tones.)


*Though, aside from one Edwardian, it looks like all her other books are Regencies.