Screened as part of NZIFF 2012

Step Up to the Plate 2011

Entre les Bras

Directed by Paul Lacoste

Elegant doco records a year of transition as master chef Michel Bras hands his legendary three-Michelin-star hotel-restaurant Aubrac over to his son. “A rare window into the mysterious creative process of a chef.” — Time

France In French with English subtitles
90 minutes

Director

Producers

Gaëlle Bayssière
,
Didier Creste

Photography

Yvan Quéhec
,
Romain Carcanade

Editor

Anthony Brinig

Music

Karol Beffa

With

Sébastien Bras
,
Michel Bras
,
Veronique Bras
,
Ginette Bras

Festivals

Berlin, San Francisco 2012

Elsewhere

Born and raised in the Aubrac region of central southern France, chef Michel Bras started his career in the kitchen of his parents’ inn before taking over the business and winning his Michelin stars. Now he is preparing to hand over to his son, Sébastien, but showing little inclination to change the pattern of his days. Paul Lacoste’s documentary follows father and son and acquaints us with the extended family through this transitional year. We take in a good many kitchens, including that of Michel’s elderly parents, the root from which a great many exquisitely crafted dishes have grown. Lacoste, who first filmed Michel Bras a decade ago, can convey the utter concentration of food preparation carried out in silence, or pause, with his subjects, to take in the seasonal changes in the landscape that feeds the Aubrac kitchens. Wryly alert to the inherent questions of nurture versus nature, he measures the weight of tradition against the younger man’s drive to evolve. Comparisons with last year’s Jiro Dreams of Sushi are irresistible. — BG