“The Passion of Dodin Bouffant” was released in cinemas this Wednesday, November 8, 2023. But what do the critics think of the film chosen to represent France at the Oscars?
Movies and food go hand in hand. But this Wednesday, November 8, it’s not popcorn or sweets that theatergoers will be hungry for, but rather French gastronomy. The passion of Dodin Bouffantwinner of the Best Director Award at the last Cannes Film Festival, can be seen on the big screen today.
Directed by Trân Anh Hùng, this feature film traces the complicated romance between a gourmet magistrate and his cook, against the backdrop of a declaration of love for haute cuisine and the arts of the table. In the casting, the filmmaker brings together Benoît Magimel and Juliette Binoche, who were a couple from 1999 to 2003.
After its success at Cannes, The passion of Dodin Bouffant was chosen to defend the colors of France at the Oscars. But before knowing if it will be selected for the Best Foreign Language Film award (it still has two rounds of selection to go through), should we rush to the theaters to discover this new cinematic delight?
Criticism divided
In France, criticism is mainly divided by The passion of Dodin Bouffant. “Resolutely slow and obviously too long” for La Voix du Nord, when Le Parisien deplores “an old-fashioned cuisine above ground”: “We are sold an ode to French gastronomy, we find ourselves in front of a roll of film preserved’ extolling the merits of the cuisine of yesteryear, and of the society which enjoyed it. For Le Figaro, which gives the film a score of 2/4, “the bombastic dialogues weigh down the subject”. For its part, La Croix deplores “heaviness”.
Some media still praise the meticulous staging of the film, sometimes compared to a ballet of dishes, which earned it a statuette at Cannes: “What sweetness in this film with polished aesthetics”, salutes the Voice of the North. For The New Republic, director Trân Anh Hùng succeeds in a “soft, sensual, luminous and appetizing film”. Lovers of high gastronomy should at least find what they are looking for here.