Who remembers Babette or more recent food inspired films? Julie & Julia does not disappoint. The visuals are compelling. Seeing Meryl Streep market shopping for fresh seafood in Paris or Amy Adams preparing a beautiful spread after many failures is satisfying. Having Julia function in a kitchen all equipped with copper utensils hanging from the ceiling adds a richness to the visual impact.

The movie centres around two stories. One is My Life in Paris by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme. The other is Julie & Julia by Julie Powell. The latter deals with the efforts of Julie Powell as she struggles to prepare in one year all the recipes in Child's compendium, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

The story of Julia Child in Paris can stand alone, but the story of Julie Powell struggling through cassoulet or boeuf bourginon recipes is good fun. Meryl Streep captures the essence of Julia Child and brings back memories of her on PBS. Julia was a larger than life personality with a ready laugh. The film reveals her sense of humour and wit. At loose ends in Paris while her diplomat husband is busy with his job, Julia enrolls in a Cordon Bleu cooking course. At the end of it, she decides to publish a book on French cooking for Americans. The film shows the difficult times she had to get her tome published, and the support she received from her husband, Paul, expertly portrayed by Stanley Tucci. Paul is himself having a troubling time with McCarthyism, so he and Julia support each other.

I kept being intrigued with what was done to make Meryl Streep into a 6'2" Julia, taller than Tucci/Paul. She surely wore platform shoes and the director may have hired only short people for certain shots. A viewer who was unaware of the real Julia's stature would not be distracted as I was.

In the case of Julie (Amy Adams), she too is trying to do something useful with her life. All her friends are having some kind of success, but she cannot complete the novel she started. In frustration, she plans to cook all the recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking and to blog the results. This is a success. She finds that there are many "foodies" reading her blog and commenting. Her life is not the idyllic life of Julia and Paul but one full of meltdowns and screaming at her husband, Eric (Chris Messina), who, though initially supportive of her blog, is fed up with her be-haviour and after a quarrel walks out of their apartment. A welcome reunion follows. Tucci and Messina as the respective husbands of Julia and Julie do not have big parts but both play their roles well.

The stories of these women remain separate and Julie never meets Julia. However, the impression is given that Julia was dismissive of Julie and her blog. I'm not sure whether blogging was in vogue while Julia lived or whether that was a liberty taken by writer Ephron.

The film is not big on moral theme. It captures a snapshot view of two lives and is merely sensual enjoyment and great fun. This movie currently is showing in theatres in Toronto.