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| Michel Troisgros |
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| Michel and two sons Léo and César |
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| Léo, Michel, and César |
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| Léo and his partner Lisa Roche |
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| Sommelier Christian Vermorel |
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| César in the kitchen |
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| Director Frederick Wiseman |
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| Wiseman with the Troisgros family |
MENUS-PLAISIRS – LES TROISGROS B+ USA (240 mi) 2023 d: Frederick Wiseman
We have an attachment to our land and those who cultivate it, and consider it our duty to promote and showcase it. We take pleasure in cooking the vegetables from our garden. Inspired by permaculture, we have wonderful biodiversity: we don’t use any inputs, the mowing of green spaces is reduced to a minimum, beehives, bird boxes, meadows, horses and wild animals live peacefully together. —César Troisgros
Coming on the heels of such a luxurious glimpse of French culinary pleasures in Trân Anh Hùng’s The Taste of Things (La passion de Dodin Bouffant) (2023), this is an even more expansive 4-hour immersion into the heart of French cooking, as Wiseman is allowed access into one of the more revered restaurants in France, Le Bois sans Feuilles (The Leafless Forest), a large Italian-style countryside inn surrounded by farmlands, something right out of Renoir’s idyllic portrait in A Day in the Country (Partie de Campagne) (1946), yet with a modernized touch. The nature-inspired interior designed by architect Patrick Bouchain is a large open space, with tables positioned far apart from one another, where floor-to-ceiling glass windows arranged around an imposing hundred-year-old oak tree offer guests a view of the lush outdoor greenery, with cows and horses seen grazing off in the distance. In much the same way Wiseman broadened our horizons with such massive, in-depth explorations in At Berkeley (2013), National Gallery (2014), In Jackson Heights (2015), and City Hall (2020), places and institutions that are characterized by their public accessibility, this is another provocatively indispensable film, reflective of the director’s move to Paris twenty years ago, where La Maison Troisgros is one of the nation’s most distinguished cultural landmarks, a prestigious family-run restaurant in the rural French provinces with a months-long waiting list, recognized as one of the great restaurants in the world. The artistry involved is akin to making films, where the creativity is such an essential ingredient, as they’re as much concerned with the shape and color of the presentation on the plate as they are with the taste of the food. The culinary art of Maison Troisgros literally embodies French cuisine, playing an essential part of the story of 20th century French haute cuisine, with the 93-year family journey (as old as Wiseman himself) beginning in 1930 when Jean-Baptiste and Marie Troisgros took over the Hôtel des Platanes located opposite the train station in Roanne, just northwest of Lyon in the Loire valley, changed its name to L'Hôtel Moderne and opened a small restaurant that was to become Maison Troisgros, the humble beginnings of what would become a generation changing restaurant. Their two sons, Jean and Pierre, inherited the business, obtaining their first Michelin star in 1956, their second in 1965, and their third in 1968, when the brothers revolutionized French gastronomy, becoming the epicenter of Nouvelle cuisine, even writing a book on the subject, The Nouvelle Cuisine of Jean & Pierre Troisgros, where each plate is a carefully thought out work of art, with the father-son duo of Pierre working with Michel for over a decade after Jean’s death. Now with four generations of family operations, they have held three Michelin stars for more than fifty years, currently on the verge of surpassing L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges’ record of 55 years, though technically the stars attach to the address, not the chef, so recent moves have broken that continuation. None of that is mentioned in the film, of course, as it’s not a compilation of records or statistics, but offers instead an eye witness account of what happens behind the scenes, in the kitchen, and on the floor of the restaurant, literally taking viewers directly into a place they’ll likely never visit in their lifetimes, and with a regular menu prix fixe (fixed price) of 340 euros without drinks probably couldn’t afford it even if they did, allowing the luxuriousness of the experience to speak for itself.
While the restaurant is an upper crust establishment, it’s not one of those stuffy, old-world relics that thrive on strict formalities of etiquette and decorum, instead it breathes a life of its own, in harmony with the world just outside its door, using organic vegetables grown from their own garden, where their menu changes with the seasons, always providing the freshest of ingredients. One of the more amusing scenes is watching a brigade of chefs, dressed in their aprons and all-white chef’s attire, heading out into the forest like an invading army to cut wild elderflowers as garnishes for the daily menu. You’d think the white fabric would easily get soiled by grass stains and dirt, as they’re not exactly properly dressed for the occasion, but it seems like a spontaneous excursion, a bit like sending giddy elementary school kids out on a field trip. From the outset we are introduced to the gastronomic talent on display, where Michel Troisgros is the third generation family patriarch who operates three different properties in the area, opening Le Central in 1995, a café-restaurant-grocery opposite the train station in Roanne, housed in an old hotel dating back to the 1920’s, a building the family rented for more than 80 years, decorated in an eclectic style by his wife Marie-Pierre (seen but never introduced), a reflection of their many travels together. A decade later in 2008 later they opened La Colline du Colombier a few kilometers away from Roanne in the countryside, renovating an old farmhouse into a restaurant and inn located high up on the hills above Iguerande in a beautiful natural setting. And in 2017 they opened Le Bois sans Feuilles, where most of the film is shot, moving away from Roanne to Ouches, occupying a 19th century, ivy-covered stone villa, where it took two years to complete the renovation, with Michel’s wife and daughter Marion running the 15 guest rooms and villas. The contrast between an unpretentious refinement and an artful rusticity gives the redesigned farm its quietly dramatic personality, where they have transformed signature dishes from the menu into something more simplistic and self-sustainable, earning a Michelin green star in 2020 for exemplary sustainable practices. “To respect tradition, sometimes you must challenge it boldly,” Michel declares, enthusiastically passing the torch to his two sons, César and Léo, where César, who studied under Thomas Keller in Napa, is now the head chef here, Léo at La Colline, while also working a Troisgros food truck in the Ouches marketplace on weekends, though all three are seen discussing new menu possibilities while working alongside each other in the kitchen. That he entrusted his reputation to his sons isn’t surprising, as his father and grandparents did the same. What is surprising is the level of calmness in the kitchen, which is immaculate, never seeing dishwashers or filthy piles of garbage, or anyone taking a smoke break, where no one’s shouting, as orders are politely announced, and there’s no clanging of pots and pans, instead it appears more like a laboratory, a tranquil sanctuary of culinary expertise with the chefs working quickly in what appears to be a labor of love, with very little actually spoken, going against the grain that the kitchen is a hectic and stressful environment, while the invisible presence of James Bishop’s cinéma vérité camera feels completely non-intrusive. As is typical in Wiseman’s films, by spending so much time scrutinizing each subject, with no interjected editorializing, he allows the unique experience to be our own, as if we are privileged guests.
Clearly what distinguishes the look of the film is the modern glass structure, as if designed for an architectural museum, literally bringing the countryside into the dining room, allowing the infinite changes of the outside world to become a natural part of each individual dining experience, like impressionist painters continually drawn to new light, yet the overall size of the kitchen is equally impressive, allowing freedom of movement and a seamless choreography of multiple chefs, with no visible obstructions, while the spaciousness in the dining room allows guests plenty of room to breathe, where no one is crowding someone else’s space. Yet what’s unique about the experience is the ownership and its staff, which is trained to be intuitive and observant, where they are the very definition of hospitality, treating everyone like family, as a meeting with the wait staff focuses on individualized customer preferences, paying special attention to anything that could be perceived as manipulative or bullying, or just bad taste, exhibiting no signs of elitism, which seems incredibly au courant, where part of the sumptuousness of the experience is avoiding these little unexpected pitfalls, though to be totally fair, the restaurant caters almost exclusively to wealthy white clientele, while few women are seen in the kitchen, as this remains a male-dominated industry. The father and sons can be seen debating plating options, analyzing flavor profiles, with the father grilling them on every detail, whether to add or subtract ingredients, questioning texture and presentations, always trying to improve upon the purity of flavor, as they’re continually tinkering, never completely satisfied with the ephemeral nature of what they put on the plate, and while the film is about the running of a high-end restaurant, it’s also about the passing-down of traditions, exploring how each generation has their own interpretation of those traditions. At one point, one of the faulty sous-chefs is duteously taken aside by Michel and read the proper preparation process for bleeding blood from calf brains in the Escoffier and the Grand Larousse encyclopédique. The family can also be seen purchasing fresh vegetables in an open-air market, where we see a treasure trove of oyster mushrooms, or discussing what wines to add to their extensive wine list, or replenish their cellar, with some bottles now costing up to fifteen thousand euros, paying particular attention to establishing ongoing relations to nearby wineries, who regularly set aside wines for their restaurant. There’s an unusually detailed visit to a massive cheese producer, sourcing sheep, goat, and cow’s milk from nearby farms, where they clean the cheese, dust and salt the product, reseed them by rubbing one cheese with others, and then store them for months or years, endlessly rotating them, bringing each to its fullest potential, “each cheese has its moment of truth.” Visits to a cattle ranch, a local vineyard, a beekeeper, and an organic farmer all suggest that it’s the soil that makes the product, adding grass or beans to the soil near the grapes, making sure they don’t draw too much moisture, or we see livestock are continually herded to a fresher pasture, keeping the grass at its maximum potential by not overgrazing, literally a week or so at each location, always allowing it to fully grow back, doing as little damage as possible. Biodiversity holds the key not just in replenishing the soil, but also in the carefully chosen menus specifically designed to reduce food waste in restaurants, which accounts for a substantial amount of food waste around the globe (Around 19 percent of food is wasted globally as 783 million people face chronic hunger, UN says | PBS NewsHour). In an interesting observation, no one is seen requesting a to-go box.
While there are no conventional documentary elements like interviews, narration, or a structured storyline, Wiseman, who works for months afterwards editing his own films, also departs from his signature style of a decade ago when his camera simply hovered for extreme long shots, with very few edits, always capturing mood and texture, never offering any hint about the specifics of who or what we are witnessing, as the meditative style alone is such a careful, thoughtful process probing the nuances of each subject. The edits come more frequently now, perhaps due to the speed in the kitchen, with the camera continually having to stay out of the way, so there are flurries of shots, adding poetic transitional inserts. This quietly absorbing film is structured around the collaboration of meal planning and preparation, beginning with a lunch service at Troisgros restaurant led by César, followed by another service at the sister restaurant La Colline run by Léo, with Michel then making a few digressions to local food producers and suppliers, giving viewers an insider’s view of the means of production, before returning to Troisgros for an evening dinner service. Piecing together seven weeks of footage taken from different days, the editing simulates a sort of day-in-the-life of a restaurant chef. There are generally three menu options, a standard menu, a tasting menu, and a pairing menu, where 10 courses are accompanied by 10 wines, while a cheese cart is also rolled through the restaurant, with one scene amusingly showing the wild enthusiasm of a woman making her selections. Impressed, perhaps, by the family’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances, Wiseman similarly allows a developing commentary on the floor of the restaurant to provide something of a narrative thread, displaying an extraordinary level of conscientiousness for customers, with servers, none of whom wear ties, by the way, meticulously documenting the substitutions from food allergies or personal preference, noting special occasions, such as birthdays and anniversaries, while Michel leisurely chats with customers, even breaking into English at one point for American guests, typically ogling over the wines, as if they were on the set of Alexander Payne’s SIDEWAYS (2004). Wiseman also follows Sommelier Christian Vermorel, whose knowledge of wine is unsurpassed, overseeing a cellar of 31,000 bottles, explaining every winemaker has their own écriture, or signature, an expression of their own individual cultivation techniques and style, yet he breaks it down into easily understandable options. At a restaurant like this, food and wine perfectly complement one another, becoming an instant topic for table discussion, as Wiseman patiently illuminates the restless creativity of the culinary family as they continue to experiment with dishes, methods, and ingredients, a radical departure from the heavier tradition of classic French cuisine taught at Le Cordon Bleu, infusing the menu with a fresh perspective, inspired by Asian ingredients from the family’s travels to Japan as early as the 1960’s, making sure the food is continually evolving. By the end, we see Michel pondering his legacy with one of his guests, becoming a story of heritage and inspiration, where his longstanding success allows him to quietly pass the business down to his own sons, though not without some trepidation, finding himself in a transitional crossroads between generations past and moving into a new era for him and his family. Wiseman brilliantly allows his overall artistic vision to slowly come into focus, so closely immersing viewers into this unique experience, making sure it has an unmistakable effect, as we literally become experts on the subject simply by the totality of information that is thoroughly imbedded into the film, while the filmmaker himself must share the old chef’s ruminations about leaving his own legacy.
Frederick Wiseman on Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros | NYFF61 conversation between Wiseman and program director Florence Almozini, YouTube (19:55)
Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros - PBS entire film available through 4/20/24 (3:59:51)
