The film begins with half an hour, or almost, of almost silent images, showing Juliette Binoche, Benoît Magimel and two young girls in the kitchen, preparing dumplings or cooking a rack of veal. Their gestures, choreographed like a ballet, are filmed by the virtuoso camera of Tran Anh Hùng (The smell of green papaya, Eternity). But more than a story of pots and pans, The Passion of Dodin Bouffant, presented in competition at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, is above all a love story. The one that unites Eugenie, a genius cook, with her employer, the gastronome Dodin. Together, they concoct exceptional recipes, love each other, live in perfect harmony and yet: she refuses to marry him. There is only one thing left for Dodin to do: get into the kitchen and for once, cook for his beloved.
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The Passion of Dodin Bouffant marks the reunion on screen of Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel, ex-companions and parents of a daughter, Hana. For us, the actress returns in particular to how the couple they formed inspired the one they form on screen.
In video, Juliette Binoche on the poster of The passion of Dodin Bouffant
Madame Figaro.-What appealed to you about the film's script?
Juliette Binoche.-This is the relationship between Eugenie and Dodin. I liked this complicity, this codependence between the designer and the creator, between the one who makes the recipes and the cook. I also loved the independence of this woman, that the love endures despite this. And then at some point, there is death that happens, and something exults, outside of this kind of sword of Damocles that remained hidden until now. Beauty, the generosity of life, food, animals... All that life gives us is to see what we humans do with them, how we transform them, as in the kitchen. I also think Hung is a special director. And if there is no author in cinema, there is no cinema.
The film uses food and culinary arts to talk about the passing of time, love, sensuality... What is your relationship to cooking?
I know I like simple enough foods, I like to smell the tastes. The way they are cooked is very important, so that the food keeps its flavor. I also like dishes that are cooked for a long time: it melts in the mouth, there is a very sensual side to what is simmered. I like to cook, but not necessarily every day. I can eat things made very quickly, but good.
The character of Eugenie is a woman who lives in the nineteenth century, who cooks, but fiercely values her freedom. How does she engage with the women of our time?
She is a modern character, because she freely chooses her place: that of the cook and that of being independent. She has her own way, she may seem to work in the shadows, but she feels at home. There is also the fact that situations are reversed: at some point, she is the one who is served by the person who employs her, even if they are lovers. I liked it because that's really what life does: continual reversals. We expect something, but it's never quite as we imagined it. I like it because it's close to life.
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You meet Benoît Magimel on this shoot: how did your story feed the couple you play in the film?
It is true that Dodin and Eugenie are a separate couple. It is certainly due to our complicity, to our past, to our desire too, to see each other again, to find each other and to speak to each other through Hung's words. It was amazing to experience these emotions through something that was written by another.