Juliette Binoche. “With Benoit Magimel, we wanted to meet again and talk to each other,” Dodin Bouffant said.

The film begins with half an hour or so of silent footage of Juliette Binoche, Benoit Magimel and two young women in the kitchen making dumplings or a rack of veal. Their gestures, choreographed like a ballet, are captured by Tran Anh Hung’s virtuoso camerawork (The smell of green papaya, Eternity) But more than a history of pots, The passion of Dodin BouffantAwarded the best director award at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, it is above all a love story. The one that unites Yevgeny, a genius cook, with his employer, gastronomist Dodin. They invent exclusive recipes together, love each other, live in perfect harmony, but she refuses to marry him. There is only one thing left for Dodin: to enter the kitchen and cook for his beloved once.

The passion of Dodin Bouffant marks the on-screen reunion of Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel, former companions and parents of daughter Hana. For Us , the actress looks back, specifically on how their on-screen pairing inspired their on-screen pairing.

Juliette Binoche stars in the video The passion of Dodin Bouffant

Madame Figaro: What attracted you to the script of the film?
Juliette Binoche:This is the relationship between Evgeny and Dodin. I liked this complicity, this combination between the designer and the creator, between the recipe maker and the cook. I also loved this woman’s independence, that love endures in spite of that. And then at that moment death comes, and something stirs outside this kind of Damocles sword that has been hidden until now. The beauty, the bounty of life, the food, the animals… All that life gives us is to see what we humans do with it, how we transform it, like in cooking. I also think that Hung is a special director. And if there is no author in cinema, there is no cinema.

The film uses food and cooking to talk about time, love, sensuality… What is your relationship with cooking?
I know I like quite simple foods, I like to experience the flavors. The way they are cooked is very important so that the food retains its taste. I also like long-cooked dishes. they melt in the mouth, cooked has a very sensual side. I like to cook, but not necessarily every day. I can eat a lot of fast food, but ok.

Eugenie’s character is a woman living in the 19th century who cooks but fiercely clings to her freedom. How does she dialogue with the women of our time?
He is a modern character because he freely chooses his place, the place of being a cook and being independent. He has his own way, he may seem to work in the shadows, but he feels in his place. There is also the fact that the situations are reversed. at the moment, it is he who is served by the person who works, even if they are lovers. I liked it because that’s what life really is. continuous turns. We expect something, but it’s never what we imagined. I like it because it is close to life.

You find Benoit Magimel during this shoot. How did your story inform the couple you play in the film?
It is true that Dodin and Yevgeny are an estranged couple. It is certainly due to our complicity, our past, our desire to see each other again, find each other and talk to each other in Hung’s words. It was actually amazing to experience these emotions through something written by someone else.

The passion of Dodin Bouffantby Tran An Hung, in theaters.