6/10
In the 1950s and 60s, Julia Child was the Fanny Craddock of TV cookery in the States - except most of you won't have heard of Fanny Craddock, either. Well, the point is they were both famous for teaching television audiences to cook long before Ramsay, Oliver, Lawson et al. Child lived in Paris, where she learned about French cuisine and passed on her tips to a rapt audience in America. Several decades later in 2002/3, a young woman called Julie Powell decided to cook every recipe (524) from JC's book in a year - and blog about it. The true story has been translated to Hollywood movie, with Meryl Streep playing the tall, ungainly and eccentrically-spoken Child, and Amy Adams playing the unconfident young Julie. I have to say that despite having more Oscars than any woman needs, and having been nominated for a whole lot more, I'd still give this year's statue to Meryl for her hilarious and irresistible turn. She manages to portray a woman who is a) passionate about what she does, b) eccentric to a fault, c) madly in love with her delightful husband (Stanley Tucci) and d) someone who is clearly just plain good, without being remotely annoying. That's what I call acting.
