Making The Film
Frederick Wiseman describes his experience making 'Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros’:
“During the summer of 2020, I stayed at a friend’s house in Burgundy for a month. To thank my friends, I looked in the Michelin Guide for a good restaurant nearby. I found Troisgros and we had a great lunch there.
After the meal, the chef, César Troisgros, stopped by our table. We thanked him for the delicious meal. Without planning, I suddenly asked him whether he would consider having a documentary film made about his family’s restaurant. He said he would think about it and came back half an hour later and said, “why not?”.
César and his father, Michel, exchanged letters with me and granted formal permission to film. I waited to shoot the film until spring of 2022, when the COVID epidemic waned.
Troisgros has had three Michelin stars for fifty-five years. Culinary art is a French institution. Troisgros is an outstanding example of the French culinary tradition which stretches back for centuries. Watching César and Michel Troisgros at work was like being in the studio of great artists.
I saw how the combination of imagination, hard work, sensitivity, intelligence and tradition combined to produce the multiple works of transitory and ephemeral art that each combination of ingredients represented on every plate served.
I found the art of the Troisgros related to the creative work I explored in films such as the La Comédie-Française ou L’Amour Joué, and La Danse—Le Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris as well as having links to the other films in my institutional series.“
'Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros’ is a film by Frederick Wiseman. Producer, Director, Editor Frederick Wiseman, photography James Bishop, sound Jean-Paul Mugel, producers Karen Konicek & Oliver Giel. Produced by 3 Star LLC in association with Zipporah Films, GBH, and the Independent Television Service (ITVS), with funding provided to ITVS by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The film was made possible by JustFilms Ford Foundation and Pershing Square Foundation. Fiscal sponsor Filmmakers Collaborative.
