Trailer for the movie "The Cauldron"/Lev Cinema
The conversation with the Vietnamese-French director Tran Hen Hung takes place at a particularly exciting moment for him. France chose his film "The Cauldron" as its representative for the international film category, and he managed to move up a step and enter the short list, from which the five finalists in the category are chosen. I sit down across from him in a Parisian hotel room just before the nominations are announced.
Why does he bother to meet with me and other journalists on a day like this? Well, he doesn't really have a choice. The meeting takes place as part of a French government event, which includes a marathon of interviews with the creators of the best French films that will be released in the world and in Israel during the year, and the date of this event conflicts with the announcement in Los Angeles. The director Naim Haleichot does not hide his excitement, yet he speaks to me with kindness, generosity and full concentration. When I say "Good luck" to him at the end of the conversation, the filmmaker replies "I'll need it" and in the end it turns out that luck was not on his side - "The Cauldron" did not receive an Oscar nomination (in the end, "Area of Interest" won the category). He will be satisfied with being honored with the director's award at the Cannes Film Festival, and also with a good commercial success at the United States box office. Last weekend he came up here as well, hoping to sway the audience here as well.
In such an intense and murky period, "The Cauldron" offers us a different kind of stew - a film full of delicacy, romance, good taste and joy of life. This drama takes place in France at the end of the 19th century, and follows the relationship between a celebrated chef and the cook who works with him and at one point also develops an affair with him, but seeks to maintain her independence, and refuses to settle down. In order to convince her to marry him, he tries to prepare the perfect cauldron for her, one that will finally conquer her heart.
The two are played by Juliette Binoche and her legendary ex Benoît Mégimel, who skipped over their differences to unite in this film - something that could probably only happen in France. The two prepare dishes together here that will make you drool, unless you are vegetarian. As my friend Amir Kaminer, who understands cinema and food more than all of us put together, described, among other things, "classic French meat and vegetable casserole, chicken in wine, fish wading in a pot full of herbs, oven-baked veal ribs served with fried lettuce, terrific and exquisite turbo fish, and a magnificent dessert called 'Frozen Alaska'". Personally, of all this I can only eat the lettuce, but enjoy your appetite.
Tran Heng Hung won the director prize at Cannes even though his film is not political: a remarkable achievement in a time when award committees judge mainly by politics. "There are two approaches in our world: one that claims to change the world, and the Buddhist approach, in which man tries to improve himself and become a better person, like the hero of my film," he says in response to the apolitical nature of his films. "In my opinion, we have no influence on the world, so it is better to focus on self-improvement, and to understand how to be better to the people around us. The film is different in landscape because it deals with harmony, something that festivals are not so interested in these days. I was extraordinarily lucky that my film He has come a long way."
Tran An Hung was born in Vietnam, moved to France as a child, studied cinema at a prestigious French university and broke out in 1993 with his first feature film, "The Scent of Green Papaya". Since then it has had its ups and downs, including a not very successful adaptation of Murakami's "Norwegian Forest". "The Cauldron" is his most talked about film in years, and you can see it in the joy on his face.
"Food was an important dimension in my childhood," he answers in response to the question asked about his relationship with food. "I grew up in a poor family, of laborers who worked in the production of clothes. Everything around me was quite ugly. The only beautiful thing was the kitchen. There was light and fire. When my mother returned from the market with vegetables and fruits, I learned about beauty for the first time."
"When I moved to France, my classmates started inviting me to family meals, and it scared me to sit around the table with people who talked about a culture I didn't know," he recalls. "Parents always asked their child, 'What have you been reading lately?', and I was afraid they would ask me too. The French food was not to my taste, because I don't like cheese, but in the end I enjoyed the conversation. In Asia we don't often talk around the table, but in France we do. When I I invite friends to drink tea, I tell them that the conversation should be boring, so that we can concentrate on the tea."
What do you like to eat? Tell me you like McDonald's, then there will be a funny headline.
"No, I don't like junk food. I like simple food. The older I get, the less meat I eat, and I think I'll soon become a vegetarian. The secret is not to eat too much, and to know how to stop - you have to stop not when you're 100 percent full , but by eighty percent."
We've seen a lot of food movies, but we've hardly seen cooking scenes like in "The Cauldron". They are extraordinary in their length, character and beauty. how did you do it
"It was complicated. I told my team that action movie directors shoot chase scenes, and we shoot cooking scenes. I directed TV commercials, where they use food stylists. It's terrible, because then you shoot unreal food, which you can't eat. We worked with real food , then at the end of the day we ate what we cooked. For me and the rest of the team, this is the first time in our career that we photographed edible food.
"My challenge was to show food, without Beauty Shot - photos that emphasize the beauty of the subject of photography. I didn't want close-ups on the food, but everything to be in motion, when the cooks are at work, doing their job. From the moment we started filming, I realized how complicated it would be. I don't usually plan ahead, but this time I had to plan everything."
How was working with the young photographer Jonathan Rickburg? This is your first time working with him.
"I initially wanted to work with someone else, who was not available because of the corona virus. It was interesting to work with someone young, whom I do not know. I told him that the light is the beauty of the picture, so it belongs to him, but the frame is the drama, and therefore it belongs to me."
Juliette Binoche said the film also belongs to your partner, Yen Ka.
"She was the costume designer and the art designer. She has a very good eye. When paintings had to be put on the walls, she put them in a certain and fascinating way. She always sat with me behind the monitor and made every frame interesting."
Does the fact that you avoid politics make it difficult for you in the world of cinema?
"Yes, and that's why I only make a film once every five years. However, I prefer to make the films that interest me, and always initiate my own projects. Many films these days present some political issue, but they are very uncinematic. They are artistically poor, and I prefer To put in the center the language of cinema, the cinematic moment. My next film will be about Buddha and maybe there will be something political and social in it, but that's not what's important to me."