HAUTE CUISINE/ LES SAVUERS DE PALAIS

France, 2012, 95 minutes, Colour.
Catherine Frot, Arthur Dupont, Jean D’ Ormesson, Hippolyte Girardot.
Directed by Christian Vincent,

Haute Cuisine is the English title for a film called Les Saveurs de Palais/The Tastes of the Palace, referring to the Elysee Palace, the home of the French president. The title in English follows the use of such English words as restaurant, café, menu, soufflé… when a focus is on food.

But this is an entertaining film, especially for lovers of food and cooking, whether they be French or not.

Surprisingly, it opens in Antarctica, where Hortense (Catherine Frot) is finishing a year’s cooking for a group on a French base. She is a middle-aged woman, at home in the kitchen, friendly towards the people at the base, yet quite tough in herself. However, she is unwilling to talk to an Australian journalist who has come to make a documentary about her and does not want to be filmed. Fortunately, by the end of the film, she is more open.

The reason for the documentary is that Hortense was for two years the private cook for President Mitterrand. But she is unwilling to open up about that. However, the film opens up as we see her flashbacks and build up the whole story: of the recommendation by top French cooks, of her traveling from her home and farm to an interview in Paris, to taking up the appointment, to her two year career. At the outset, she discovers that presidential palaces are governed by bureaucrats and protocols. She also discovers a macho dislike of her and her presence from the all male Main Kitchen staff. However, she finds in her assistant, Nicholas (Arthur Dupont), a congenial young man who has a talent for cooking, especially pastry cooking.

Hortense is to cook for the president, personally, and for his special guests. She is to produce menus in advance for approval. The president likes simple cooking and she does her best. This is the part that cooking fans will enjoy, details of her recipes, details of her preparing the dishes, cooking them, with information about timing and temperature, the camera even making a close-up of buttering toast look very tasty and inviting.

The president himself is friendly and there are several references to his relationships with women on his staff. However, Hortense his exemplary in her behavior, enjoying chats about food, the simple food of the past, with the president.

Ultimately, the bureaucrats get the better of her with their budgeting, savings, emphasis on healthy food and general interference.

The film is actually very interesting in its behind the scenes look at the running of the Elysee Palace, pressures on the president, his enjoying challenge, the strict timing and security, the visitors, the socials… As well as of the jealousies amongst the staff and in the kitchen.

Having started in Antarctica, the film continues to return to the base, the last two days of Hortense’s work there, her preparations for lunch, for her farewell dinner and the celebration, and a scratch concert where some of the men mock her work for the president, in cheerful fun.

In fact, the film is quite cheerful, the characters well portrayed, and most audiences will be interested in Hortense and her Haute Cuisine. It is interesting to note that the actual cook, Danielle Depuech, acted as technical adviser to the film.

1. An entertaining film? Portrait of a personality? Cooking, food? Politics? Behind the scenes in political life?

2. The two stories, two aspects of Hortense’s life? The flashbacks, her remembering?

3. Antarctica, using locations in Iceland, bleak, the bare hills and mountains, the sea, the base, basic life, the kitchen, meals? The men, camaraderie, working together? The documentary-maker and her cameraman? The final concert for Hortense?

4. The documentary-maker, the photographer, trying to film on the boat, their arrival, Hortense hostile, no interviews, busy cooking, not wanting to be filmed? Her mellowing at the end, friendship with the film-maker?

5. France, Hortense’s farm and home, her uncle and their work, the background of her family, her daughter, the truffles?

6. The phone call, the car waiting for her, going to Paris, the hold up on the road, the train? The officials, going to number 55? The request to take the job? Guiding her around the palace, the courtyards, the east wing, west wing, tunnels, going to the kitchen? The initial hostility of the cork and the staff?

7. Hortense as a character, her age, her daughter, her being strong minded, self-deprecating? Accepting the job? The regulations, the menus, preparation, advance notification? The produce and goods available, her wanting her to go to the market, arranging for the best produce to be brought in from the country, the later criticisms of her expense and rail tickets? The interaction with the main kitchen? Nicholas as her associate, friendly with him, admiring his abilities? Their collaboration and friendship?

8. The sequences of cooking, the great detail, the ingredients, the recipes, her talking while she cooked, skills? The look of the food? Presentation and
serving? Responses? Especially from the president?

9. President Mitterand, the locked door and Hortense’s walking to his room, talking, sharing? The chat lasting 35 minutes, difficulties for security and timing? The president and the book and giving it to her as a gift? His thanking her at the family party? His coming to the kitchen, sitting at the table, the truffles and the wine?

10. The officials, her supervisor, the man to whom she was responsible, the overall manager of protocols and his being dismissed? The change of staff? Budget issues? Treating her less well? The ways of bureaucracy? It being hard for her, her physical disability and recommendation to rest? Taking some time off, called back, the president and his trip, the main cook going with him? Her letter of resignation?

11. Nicholas, his character, his skills, working with Hortense? But afraid to ask the main kitchen for use of the refrigerator and her reaction? The two new assistants and their ignorance, her beginning to train them?

12. The crises in the kitchen, the oyster dish and the need for refrigeration, her having to hurry to the store to have it delivered?

13. The two kitchens, the all-male staff, macho of attitudes, sneering at Hortense, calling her Du Barry? And the implications?

14. Life at the palace, audiences getting a glimpse, understanding the pressures, protocols and timetables? Some understanding?

15. Hortense, on the boat with the documentary-maker, talking about Australia, plans for a truffleel farm, finding new Zealand as ideal and her future there?