User reviews

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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)

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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?

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!