''Haute Cuisine'' is a 2012 French

comedy-drama film Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, illness, betrayal, grief, etc. ...

based on the true story of Danièle Mazet-Delpeuch and how she was appointed as the private chef for

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

. The original French title is ''Les Saveurs du Palais''.

Plot

Hortense Laborie (

Catherine Frot Catherine Frot (; born 1 May 1956) is a French actress. A 10-time César Award nominee, she won the awards for Best Actress for '' Marguerite'' (2015) and Best Supporting Actress for '' Family Resemblances'' (1996). Her other films include '' L ...

), a renowned chef from

Périgord Périgord ( , ; ; or ) is a natural region and former province of France, which corresponds roughly to the current Dordogne department, now forming the northern part of the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It is divided into f ...

, is astonished when the President of the Republic ( Jean d'Ormesson) appoints her as his personal chef, responsible for creating all his meals at the

Élysée Palace The Élysée Palace (, ) is the official residence of the President of France, President of the French Republic in Paris. Completed in 1722, it was built for Louis Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, a nobleman and army officer who had been appointed g ...

. Despite jealous resentment from the other kitchen staff, Hortense quickly establishes herself, thanks to her indomitable spirit. The authenticity of her cooking soon seduces the President, but the corridors of power are littered with traps."Haute Cuisine"
/ref> The story is framed by Laborie's later role cooking at a French Antarctic research station.

Cast

as Hortense Laborie * Arthur Dupont as Nicolas Bauvois * Jean d'Ormesson as The Président *

Hippolyte Girardot Hippolyte Girardot (born Frédéric Girardot; 10 October 1955) is a French actor, film director and screenwriter. He is the father of actress Ana Girardot. Selected filmography * 1973: '' La Femme de Jean'', directed by Yannick Bellon, Rémi * ...

as David Azoulay * Jean-Marc Roulot as Jean-Marc Luchet *

Brice Fournier Brice Fournier (born 20 July 1966) is a French actor. He appeared in more than thirty films since 2004. Fournier grew up in Saint-Priest. Selected filmography References External links * 1966 births Living people Male actors f ...

as Pascal Le Piq *

Arly Jover Araceli "Arly" Jover is a Spanish actress. She is best known for her role as the villainous vampire Mercury in the 1998 superhero film ''Blade''. Life and career Araceli Jover was born in Melilla, Spain. After living there for five years, her f ...

as Mary *

Joe Sheridan Joseph Michael Sheridan (27 November 1914 – 30 September 2000) was an Irish politician, originally with Fine Gael but for most of his career an independent. Sheridan came from Colmcille in County Longford, and had three brothers and two sist ...

as John * Laurent Poitrenaux as Jean-Michel Salomé * Hervé Pierre as Perrières * Manuel Le Lièvre as Loïc * Steve Tran as Grégory *

Thomas Chabrol Thomas Chabrol (born 24 April 1963) is a French actor, director, and screenwriter. Filmography On stage References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chabrol, Thomas 1963 births 20th-century French male actors 21st-century French male a ...

as The prefect of the Chief

Production

Parts of the movie were actually filmed at the

, in a three-day shooting window where filming was only allowed when then President

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...

was not at the palace.

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

served as a stand-in for the

Crozet islands The Crozet Islands (; or, officially, ''Archipel Crozet'') are a sub-Antarctic archipelago of small islands in the southern Indian Ocean. They form one of the five administrative districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. History ...

in the movie. The film crew spent six days there to film on location.

Reception

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reports a 68% approval rating with an average rating of 6.1/10 based on 31 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "While it'll certainly be an easier sell for foodie filmgoers, ''Haute Cuisines beautifully filmed biopic should satisfy most viewers hungry for a beautifully filmed dramedy." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, it has a score of 61 out of 100 based on 14 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

References

External links

* * * (en) * * 2012 films Cooking films French cuisine 2010s French-language films French comedy-drama films 2012 comedy-drama films Films directed by Christian Vincent Films produced by Étienne Comar Films scored by Gabriel Yared Films with screenplays by Étienne Comar 2010s French films Films produced by Philippe Rousselet French-language comedy-drama films {{2010s-France-film-stub