Often when I write on Gig Matrix, I start with what I think is a clever headline, which then leads to a thesis and eventually a first graf. After seeing all the delicious food and wine porn in Julie & Julia, my friend and I headed immediately to a wine bar in Hell’s Kitchen where we got red wine and paired it with a beautiful plate of … nachos. Don’t tell Julia!

Anyway, my mind instantly started testing out headlines involving food, wine, France, cooking, Streep, blogging, anything evoked by the movie. (Hey, last names can work. I was particularly proud of using “Streep Throat” to describe Meryl’s singing in Mamma Mia.) Then the most amazing thing happened: A dual-language pun materialized on the tip of my langue. Behold! Joie de livre!

me: i have a really good hed for Julie and Julia review: Joie de livre
(livre = book)
is that enough for a post? jk

Reuben: All our Francophones will love it

me: yes i will

Reuben: So is “joie de livre” a pun?

me: rhymes with vivre
the movie’s all about this woman writing a book about cooking
also kind of ties in with joy of cooking

Reuben: Right

me: also, a lot of it is set in france, when julia child was working on her art of mastering french cooking

Reuben: Is “vivre” French for “cooking?”

me: no, where’d you get that?

The pun requires you to know what joie de vivre means (I think most people do) but also that livre is the French word for book (most people don’t). Get it? The English equivalent would be like “Joy of Book-ing.” (Oooh, not bad!)

Anyway, so with that tiny basis, I went home and wrote:

Julie & Julia is a film entirely built around joie de vivre: The joy of cooking, the joy of writing and the joy of seeing Meryl Streep so utterly radiant as super chef Julia Child.

And I had nothing else to say. So here’s my official take on the movie: I had a huge grin on my face every time Meryl Streep burst onscreen. So if you like to smile, go see it.