Julia

Julie Cohen and Betsy West's 2021 documentary is about the cook and writer Julia Child. The book she wrote on French cooking drew unexpectedly large attention in America in the sixties, and the television programme followed. The argument is the method itself. Child makes mistakes on camera, picks up what she drops and does not cut it out; the narrative shows the bond that manner created with viewers and how it changed the form of cookery programmes. Archive recordings and letters are used, with her marriage and the years in France forming a section of their own. The documentary also touches briefly on Child's earlier attitude to homosexuality and her later change. Who it's for: those who like food culture and the history of television. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a critical biography; the documentary is largely celebratory.