2023-12-20 07:15:05
Pleasure Menus, Troisgros ***
the Frederick Wiseman
American documentary, 4 hours
In February 2017, Michel Troisgros left the historic establishment founded by his grandfather opposite Roanne train station to set up his restaurant in Ouches, a few kilometers away, in a magnificent property in the countryside. Accompanied by the architect Patrick Bouchain, he made his three-starred restaurant “Bois Sans Feuilles” a gastronomic oasis whose purity and architectural sobriety match his delicate cuisine. “The move was both a sadness and a joy, confides this one. It’s like I’m opening up new possibilities for myself. I was no longer following in my father’s footsteps, I was charting my own path while preparing for the future. »
“Les Troisgros” is first and foremost a family story. Four generations of cooks who have succeeded each other in the kitchen since 1930, the inventors of the famous “Salmon with sorrel”, symbol of this New Cuisine which was announced at the turn of the 1960s, not hesitating to travel the world to renew their inspiration and making the stars shine in the firmament of the Michelin guide for fifty-five years now. Michel took over in 1996 from his father and uncle, Pierre and Jean, who made the reputation of the house, and now works himself with his two sons, César and Léo, to whom he is preparing to hand over the reins.
Make you forget the camera
A true institution of French gastronomy as loved by Frederick Wiseman. The documentarian, now 93 years old, has never ceased during his rich career to examine American society through some of these emblematic places which concentrate the very essence of a nation (justice, the system health, town halls, museums, libraries) or in France, La Comédie-Française and the Paris Opera ballet. Always with the same method: immerse yourself, forget your camera and leave room for a long time to be as close as possible to the truth, no superfluous comments, no interviews in front of the camera, and no music.
The American director was staying with friends in Burgundy during the summer of 2020 when he discovered the Troisgros table. He immediately decided to put his camera there and, with the family’s agreement, filmed in spring 2022, waiting for life to fully resume its course after the Covid epidemic. “Watching César, Léo and Michel Troisgros at work in their kitchens, it’s as if I found myself in the studio of great artists”, he explained. Or how “the imagination, the preparatory work, the sensitivity, the intelligence, the sense of welcome and collective organization combined to produce the multiple ephemeral works that each combination of ingredients represents in each of the plates served to their clients “.
A matter of tradition and transmission
It is to this mystery, with all its liturgical dimension, that Frederick Wiseman invites us during the four hours of this river documentary which can be enjoyed like a great wine, provided you give yourself the time. Hardly basically that of a service. From the market, where César and Léo carefully choose their products, to the table, the film follows all the stages: developing menus, developing new recipes, ordering great wines at huge prices, daily meeting with the line managers to review the day’s customers and provide them with a tailor-made service, right down to the preparation of dishes which are done in the calm and concentration of a kitchen where everything has been designed to work fluidly. Far, very far from the image of the overexcited brigade at the time of the gunshot and the leader barking his orders.
Michel Troisgros just got angry with an apprentice who forgot to remove its blood parts from a brain. The sanction will consist of taking the person responsible to penance to the restaurant library to open the book by Auguste Escoffier and GreatLarousse of French cuisine. “When you have a doubt, you come and consult them. Everything is there ! “, he explains to her. Because behind the refined luxury of this great restaurant, it is also a story of high standards and excellence, of tradition and transmission that Frederick Wiseman celebrates. Michel, omnipresent on screen, admits to a client that he has difficulty « s’effacer ». But in his shadow, César at “Bois sans Feuilles” and Léo at “La colline du Colombier”, a country inn created in 2008, or together aboard the itinerant food truck that they launched during confinement, are already writing a new chapter of this family novel.
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An almost century-old institution
1930. Jean-Baptiste and Marie Troisgros, cafe owners in Chalon-sur-Saône (Saône-et-Loire), take over the hotel-restaurant des Platanes opposite Roanne station, renamed the Hôtel Moderne.
Early 1950s. Their sons, Pierre and Jean, trained in the best houses, took over the kitchen. They obtained their first star in 1956, the second in 1965 and the third in 1968.
1996. Michel, son of Pierre, succeeds them as management of the establishment after having traveled the culinary world and opened his own restaurant, Le Central. In 2003, he was named “Chef of the Year” by Gault et Millau.
In February 2017, the house is located in Ouches (Loire). César takes over the reins of the kitchen in 2022, while his brother Léo takes over at the head of La Colline du Colombier, an inn created in 2008.
• No ! * Why not ** Good film *** Very good film **** Masterpiece
#Troisgros #family