Legendary documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman on French haute cuisine dynasty Les Troisgros

euronews (in English)

Euronews Culture sat down with celebrated US documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman to talk about his stunning film 'Menus-Plaisirs - Les Troisgros', his love of French food, and wanting to film in the White House.

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:03 It came up completely by chance.

00:24 I was visiting a friend in Burgundy

00:27 for the month of August in 2021.

00:30 And I wanted to thank him and his wife

00:32 for putting up with me for a month.

00:35 So I looked in the Guidemichelin for a nearby good restaurant.

00:39 And I found Trois Gros, three stars.

00:43 I made a reservation.

00:44 We went there for lunch.

00:46 During dessert, César Trois Gros,

00:48 who's the fourth generation and who's currently

00:50 running the restaurant, came by the table to say hello.

00:56 Without planning to, I sort of instinctively blurted out,

01:01 I make documentary movies.

01:03 Would you ever consider having a movie

01:05 made about your restaurant?

01:08 And he said, let me talk to my father.

01:11 And he came back a half an hour later and said, why not?

01:14 [MUSIC PLAYING]

01:17 I think the Trois Gros, César, and Michel

01:25 are artists in what you see is their art being produced,

01:32 even though it's ephemeral and it's consumed quickly.

01:38 But they are artists in the same--

01:41 in every sense of the word that painters or writers are

01:44 artists.

01:45 [MUSIC PLAYING]

01:48 I don't watch television.

01:54 And I had never seen a film about a restaurant.

01:57 Whatever I learned about restaurants

01:59 is what you see in the film.

02:00 It's true of most of my films.

02:03 I mean, I'd never spent any time in a welfare center

02:06 or the emergency ward of a hospital,

02:09 or I hadn't ridden around with the police.

02:11 And that's part of the fun of doing it,

02:15 because it's always an adventure.

02:17 And I always like to think I've learned something.

02:20 [MUSIC PLAYING]

02:24 [PANTING]

02:28 [PANTING]

02:31 [MUSIC PLAYING]

02:35 [MUSIC PLAYING]

02:39 [MUSIC]

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