''Julie & Julia'' is a 2009 American

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

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

film written and directed by

Nora Ephron Nora Ephron ( ; May 19, 1941 – June 26, 2012) was an American journalist, writer, and filmmaker. She is best known for writing and directing romantic comedy films and received numerous accolades including a British Academy Film Award as ...

starring

Meryl Streep Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Known for her versatility and adept accent work, she has been described as "the best actress of her generation". She has received numerous accolades throughout her career ...

and

Amy Adams Amy Lou Adams (born August 20, 1974) is an American actress. Known for both her comedic and dramatic roles, she has been featured three times in annual rankings of the world's highest-paid actresses. She has received List of awards and nom ...

in the title roles with

Stanley Tucci Stanley Tucci Jr. ( ; born November 11, 1960) is an American actor. Known as a character actor, he has played a wide variety of roles ranging from menacing to sophisticated, earning numerous accolades, including six Emmy Awards and two Golden ...

Chris Messina Chris Messina (born August 11, 1974)Hochberg, Mina.Chris Messina stars in 'Ruby Sparks'. ''Newsday'' (Long Island, New York). August 8, 2012: "...the actor, who turns 38 Saturday ugust 11, 2012 After graduating from Northport ew YorkHigh Scho ...

, and

Linda Emond Linda Marie Emond (born May 22, 1959) is an American stage, film, and television actress. She has received three Tony Award nominations for her performances in '' Life (x) 3'' (2003), ''Death of a Salesman'' (2012), and ''Cabaret'' (2014). Earl ...

in supporting roles. The film contrasts the life of chef

Julia Child Julia Carolyn Child (Birth name#Maiden and married names, née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for having brought French cuisine to the American pu ...

(played by Streep) in the early years of her culinary career with the life of young New Yorker

Julie Powell Julie Anne Powell (; April 20, 1973 – October 26, 2022) was an American author known for her 2005 book ''Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen'' which was based on her blog, the Julie/Julia Project. A film adaptation b ...

(played by Adams), who aspires to cook all 524 recipes in Child's cookbook in 365 days, a challenge she described on her popular blog, which made her a published author. Ephron's screenplay is based on two books: ''

My Life in France ''My Life in France'' is an autobiography by Julia Child, published in 2006 in literature, 2006. It was compiled by Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme, her husband's grandnephew, during the last eight months of her life, and completed by Prud'homme ...

'', Child's autobiography written with Alex Prud'homme, and a

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

by Powell, ''Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen'' (later retitled ''Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously''). Both of these books were written and published between 2004 and 2006. Powell's book was based on her blog ''The Julie/Julia Project'', where she documented online her daily experiences cooking each of the 524 recipes in Child's 1961 cookbook ''

Mastering the Art of French Cooking ''Mastering the Art of French Cooking'' is a two-volume French cookbook written by Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, both from France, and Julia Child, from the United States. The book was written for the American market and published by Kno ...

''. The film is the first major motion picture based on a blog. In March 2008, Ephron began filming with Streep as Child and Adams as Powell. On July 30, 2009, the film officially premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York; and, on August 7, 2009, it opened throughout North America. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised Streep's performance. ''Julie & Julia'' was Ephron's last film before her death in 2012.

Plot

The film is presented in a series of flashbacks between the present and the past, jumping between various moments in both Julie and Julia's lives. The following plot summary separates the plot based on character.

Julia Child – 1950s

In the 1950s, Julia Child, an enthusiastic and unabashed woman, moves to Paris with her diplomat husband, Paul Child. She attends

Le Cordon Bleu Le Cordon Bleu (; French: " The Blue Ribbon"; LCB) is a French hospitality and culinary education institution, teaching haute cuisine. Its educational focuses are hospitality management, culinary arts, and gastronomy. The institution consists ...

to learn French cooking and is initially met with skepticism as she is the only woman in the class. Madame Elizabeth Brassart, the proprietress of the school, clashes with Julia. However, Julia is undaunted and begins collaborating on a book about French cooking for American housewives with Simone “Simca” Beck and

Louisette Bertholle Louisette Bertholle (26 October 1905 – 26 November 1999) was a French cooking teacher and writer, best known as one of the three authors (with Julia Child and Simone Beck) of the bestselling cookbook ''Mastering the Art of French Cooking''. H ...

. Julia continues to work diligently on the book, despite such obstacles as Paul being repeatedly reassigned, Louisette's less-than-diligent efforts on the project (she's eventually told she will get a smaller share of the royalties than Julia and Simca), and Paul's being investigated for allegedly " un-American activities." Although Julia's book is rejected by

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

as too long and complicated, it is ultimately accepted and published by

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Blanche Knopf and Alfred A. Knopf Sr. in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers ...

Julie Powell – 2002

In 2002, Julie Powell has an unpleasant job at the

Lower Manhattan Development Corporation The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation was formed in November 2001, following the September 11 attacks, to plan the reconstruction of Lower Manhattan and distribute nearly $10 billion in federal funds aimed at rebuilding downtown Manhattan. ...

's call center, where she answers telephone calls from victims & families of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

and members of the general public complaining about the LMDC's controversial plans for rebuilding the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are the hundreds of sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may also refer to: Buildings * World Trade Center (1973–2001), a building complex that was destroyed during the September 11 at ...

. To do something she enjoys, she decides to cook every recipe in Julia Child's 1961 book ''

'' for a year while blogging about it. Her husband Eric initially supports her in this and she gains a following, but tension develops when Julie starts to get emboldened and prioritize her blog and readers over their marriage. He temporarily leaves after an argument, after which Julie expresses remorse in her blog. Finally, Julie and Eric are visited by

Amanda Hesser Amanda Hesser (born 1971) is an American food writer, editor, cookbook author and entrepreneur. Most notably, she was the food editor of ''The New York Times Magazine'', the editor of '' T Living'', a quarterly publication of ''The New York Times' ...

, a food writer from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', who features her blog in a story, after which her project begins to receive the attention of journalists, literary agents, and publishers. Julie is hurt when a journalist tells her that Julia was critical of Julie's blog project, but she retains her love and gratitude for Julia and the inspiration she provided. The last scenes show Julie and Eric visiting a reconstruction of Julia Child's kitchen at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

, and Julia in the same kitchen at her home receiving a first print edition of her cookbook and celebrating the event with Paul.

Cast

as Paul Child, Julia's husband *

as Eric Powell, Julie's husband *

Simone Beck Simone "Simca" Beck (7 July 1904 – 20 December 1991) was a French cookbook writer and cooking teacher who, along with colleagues Julia Child and Louisette Bertholle, played a significant role in the introduction of French cuisine, French cooki ...

("Simca"), with whom Julia wrote ''Mastering the Art of French Cooking'' *

Mary Lynn Rajskub Mary Lynn Rajskub () is an American actress and comedian who is best known for portraying Chloe O'Brian in the action thriller series '' 24'' and Gail the Snail in ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia''. Rajskub was a regular cast member on HBO' ...

as Sarah, Julie's best friend *

Jane Lynch Jane Marie Lynch (born July 14, 1960) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. Known for playing starring and recurring roles in comedic television, her accolades include one Golden Globe, five Primetime Emmys and two Screen Actors Gui ...

as Dorothy Dean Cousins, Julia's sister *

Frances Sternhagen Frances Hussey Sternhagen (January 13, 1930 – November 27, 2023) was an American actress. She was known as a character actress who appeared on- and off-Broadway, in movies, and on television for over six decades.Joy, Car"Frances Sternhagen i ...

Irma Rombauer Irma Rombauer (, October 30, 1877 – October 14, 1962) was an American cookbook author, best known for ''Joy of Cooking, The Joy of Cooking'' (1931), one of the world's most widely read cookbooks. Following Irma Rombauer's death, periodic revisi ...

* Helen Carey as

, co-author of ''Mastering the Art of French Cooking'' *

Deborah Rush Deborah Rush (born April 10, 1954) is an American actress. She has worked in television, film and on Broadway. In 1984, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for Michael Frayn's comedy ''Noise ...

Avis DeVoto Avis DeVoto (May 22, 1904 – March 7, 1989) was an American culinary editor, book reviewer, and cook. She was highly influential in editing and guiding two famous cookbooks to publication: Julia Child's '' Mastering the Art of French Cooking'' a ...

, Julia's long-time pen pal *

Joan Juliet Buck Joan Juliet Buck (born 1948) is an American writer and actress. She was the editor-in-chief of French ''Vogue'' from 1994 to 2001, the only American ever to have edited a French magazine. She was contributing editor to ''Vogue'' and '' Vanity F ...

Madame Elisabeth Brassart Élisabeth Brassart (1897–1992) was the proprietor of the Le Cordon Bleu school in Paris from 1945 to 1984. Le Cordon Bleu had been founded in 1895 by Marthe Distel and Henri-Paul Pellaprat. In 1945, after the end of WWII, she purchased wha ...

of Le Cordon Bleu, where Julia studied French cooking *

Vanessa Ferlito Vanessa Ferlito (born December 28, 1977) is an American actress. She is known for playing Detective Aiden Burn in the first two seasons of the CBS crime drama ''CSI: NY'', as well as for her recurring portrayal of Claudia Hernandez in Fox Broadc ...

as Cassie, Julie's acquaintance *

Casey Wilson Cathryn Rose "Casey" Wilson (born October 24, 1980) is an American actress, comedian, and screenwriter. Originally known for her performances with the Upright Citizens Brigade comedy troupe in New York City, Wilson's first major television appe ...

as Regina, Julie's acquaintance *

Jillian Bach Jillian Bach (born April 27, 1973) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Irene in the ABC sitcom ''Two Guys and a Girl''. She was also series regular on the CBS sitcom ''Courting Alex''. She also guest starred in the telev ...

as Annabelle, Julie's acquaintance *

as herself *

Françoise Lebrun Françoise Lebrun (born 18 August 1944) is a French actress. Career She has appeared in many movies, and is especially known for her role as Veronika in Jean Eustache's '' The Mother and the Whore'' (1973). She has worked with other direc ...

as The Baker's Mother *

Mary Kay Place Mary Kay Place (born September 23, 1947) is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Loretta Haggers on the television series '' Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'', a role that won her the 1977 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Suppor ...

as the voice of Kay Foster, Julie's mother *

Erin Dilly Erin Dilly (born May 12, 1972) is an American actress. She is most noted for her portrayal of Truly Scrumptious in the 2005 musical ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'', for which she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actr ...

Judith Jones Judith Jones (née Bailey; March 10, 1924 – August 2, 2017) was an American writer and editor, initially known for having rescued '' The Diary of Anne Frank'' from the reject pile. Jones is also known as the editor who championed Julia Child ...

, Julia's editor and friend

Release

On its opening weekend, the film opened #2 behind '' G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra'' with $20.1 million. ''Julie & Julia'' ended up grossing $94.1 million in the United States and Canada, and earned a worldwide total of $129.5 million.

Reception

''Julie & Julia'' received positive reviews, especially for Streep's performance.

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 ...

gave the film a score of 77% based on 221 reviews, with an average score of 6.7/10; the site's critical consensus states: "Boosted by Meryl Streep's charismatic performance as Julia Child, ''Julie & Julia'' is a light, but fairly entertaining culinary comedy."

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 ...

, which assigns a rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, gave it an average score of 66% based on 34 reviews. ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' critic

Kenneth Turan Kenneth Turan (; born October 27, 1946) is an American retired film critic, author, and lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. He was a film critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1991 ...

commented: " 'Julie & Julia'' doit right. A consummate entertainment that echoes the rhythms and attitudes of classic Hollywood, it's a satisfying throwback to those old-fashioned movie fantasies where impossible dreams do come true. And, in this case, it really happened. Twice."''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

'' gave the film a ''C'', explaining, "''Julie & Julia'' is two movies in one. That's one more movie than it needs to be." ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' gave it a ''B+''. The review by ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'' was also positive. Streep has been widely praised for her performance as Child. Movie critic

A. O. Scott Anthony Oliver Scott (born July 10, 1966) is an American journalist and cultural critic, known for his film and literary criticism. After starting his career at ''The New York Review of Books'', '' Variety'', and ''Slate'', he began writing film ...

of ''

'' affirmed: "By now treephas exhausted every superlative that exists and to suggest that she has outdone herself is only to say that she's done it again. Her performance goes beyond physical imitation, though she has the rounded shoulders and the fluting voice down perfectly." Reviewer

Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born June 27, 1943) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film i ...

wrote in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' that "Streep—at her brilliant, beguiling best—is the spice that does the trick for the yummy ''Julie & Julia''." Similarly,

Stephanie Zacharek Stephanie Zacharek is an American film critic at ''Time'', based in New York City. From 2013 to 2015, she was the principal film critic for ''The Village Voice''. She was a 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist in criticism. In February 2018, invited to s ...

of ''

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

'' concluded that "Streep isn't playing Julia Child here, but something both more elusive and more truthful— she's playing our idea of Julia Child."

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Julie and Julia 2009 films 2009 biographical drama films 2009 comedy-drama films 2000s American films 2000s English-language films 2000s French-language films American biographical drama films American comedy-drama films American nonlinear narrative films Columbia Pictures films Comedy-drama films based on actual events Cooking films English-language biographical drama films English-language comedy-drama films Films about chefs Films based on adaptations Films based on biographies Films based on Internet-based works Films based on memoirs Films based on multiple works Films directed by Nora Ephron Films featuring a Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe winning performance Films produced by Laurence Mark Films scored by Alexandre Desplat Films set in the 1940s Films set in the 1950s Films set in the 2000s Films set in New York City Films set in Paris Films set in Queens, New York Films shot in New Jersey Films shot in New York City Films shot in Paris Films set in Washington, D.C. Films set in museums Films with screenplays by Nora Ephron Satellite Award–winning films Works based on blogs