\n<\/p>\n
In recent years, you may have followed a hunky onscreen chef, battling chaos to create outstanding food on FX\u2019s \u201cThe Bear<\/a>.\u201d Maybe you also fell for \u201cBridgerton<\/a>,\u201d Netflix\u2019s lavish, anachronistic romp through the 19th-century upper classes.<\/p>\n Now \u201cCar\u00eame,\u201d a new Apple TV+ show arriving Wednesday, combines the pleasures of both those shows to tell the story of Marie-Antoine Car\u00eame, who was perhaps the world\u2019s first celebrity chef. Born into poverty in late-18th century Paris, Car\u00eame rose to cook for Napoleon Bonaparte, a Russian czar and a member of the Rothschild banking family, delighting European high society with his intricate, architectural dishes. He is often credited as the founder of French gastronomy \u2014 and with popularizing the tall chef hat.<\/p>\n To convey how innovative Car\u00eame was, \u201cour vision was to avoid a usual period drama style,\u201d said Martin Bourboulon, who directed the show\u2019s first three episodes. Although \u201cCar\u00eame\u201d is based on a book by Ian Kelly<\/a>, Bourboulon said he and his colleagues approached the period elements with a \u201cside step,\u201d and added some modern twists to the historical fact.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The costumes, for instance, nod to 20th-century and contemporary fashions, and so they had to be made from scratch rather than rented, as is typical on a production of this scale. The characters speak modern French, and Benjamin Voisin plays Car\u00eame as a tousle-headed, opium-taking charmer, with the rebellious attitude of Mick Jagger and Lenny Kravitz.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s unsurprising, therefore, that it can seem as if almost as many of Car\u00eame\u2019s scenes are set in the bedroom as in the kitchen \u2014 and some of those kitchen scenes are still quite sexy. \u201cI found similarities between the sex scenes and the food scenes,\u201d Bourboulon said, especially when it came to the care Car\u00eame takes giving pleasure in both contexts.<\/p>\n The crossover between food and sensuality \u2014 two quintessentially French concerns \u2014 has been well explored onscreen, including in films like Lasse Hallstr\u00f6m\u2019s \u201cChocolat\u201d and Tran Anh Hung\u2019s recent \u201cThe Taste of Things<\/a>.\u201d But unlike those movies, \u201cCar\u00eame\u201d also has a political dimension, exploring how food became a diplomatic tool at a pivotal period in French history.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n When the show opens in 1800, Napoleon (Frank Molinaro) has installed himself in the Tuileries Palace, consolidating his political power after military victories. But the years after the French Revolution did not mean freedom for all, and while underlings like the conniving statesman Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-P\u00e9rigord (J\u00e9r\u00e9mie Renier) jockey for status, Car\u00eame\u2019s father is arrested after Car\u00eame refuses a position cooking for Napoleon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In exchange for a promise to help his father, Car\u00eame finds himself cooking for foreign diplomats to advance men like Talleyrand\u2019s ambitions; one such dish is a flammable dessert pyramid served for the British ambassador as a symbol of reconciliation between France and Britain, who were fighting for dominance in Egypt.<\/p>\n The culinary stakes are high and the show\u2019s pace is rapid. Bourboulon said that the cooking scenes that inspired him most were from the long-running reality TV competition show \u201cTop Chef<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Voisin said that he recognized Car\u00eame\u2019s single-minded pursuit of his craft from his own determination to act \u2014 though before taking on the role, he was less familiar with cooking. To prepare, Voisin spent time learning from chefs at the prestigious Ferrandi culinary school in Paris. Ultimately, he said, he saw the show as a coming-of-age story in which Car\u00eame\u2019s morals are tested as he grows up.<\/p>\n One such test comes when Talleyrand asks Car\u00eame to become a spy, and Car\u00eame uses both his culinary and seduction skills to gain access to the private quarters of Jos\u00e9phine (Maud Wyler), Napol\u00e9on\u2019s partner. His most stalwart lover, though, is Henriette (Lyna Khoudri), a lady-in-waiting involved in espionage schemes of her own. Henriette is a modern, determined woman, and Khoudri said that was reflected in her not wearing a conventional corset, but instead outfits that allowed her to move with more ease.<\/p>\n Voisin and Khoudri said that \u201cCar\u00eame\u201d \u2014 which was shot on location in Paris over eight months \u2014 was a huge opportunity for them as young French actors because of the scale and global distribution of an American streaming giant like Apple TV+. \u201cCar\u00eame\u201d shows that a French team \u201ccan pull it off, given the resources,\u201d Khoudri said. The actress also starred in Bourboulon\u2019s recent \u201cThree Musketeers<\/a>\u201d movies, which <\/strong>similarly <\/strong>showed that France could also export commercially successful blockbusters.<\/p>\n With its preoccupation with sex, politics and food, \u201cCar\u00eame\u201d is another quintessentially French global export. And that\u2019s fine by its director. Bourboulon said with satisfaction: \u201cWe love to seem like this in France.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n