My Choice for Best Pic? Kings of Pastry

If you see just one movie this year, make it Kings of Pastry.

As you know, I don’t bake. On top of that, I don’t have a sweet tooth. So when I heard about the Kings of Pastry documentary months ago, I don’t know why I thought I should see it.

I didn’t know what I expected from this film – perhaps to be educated, maybe to swoon in a world I just don’t understand. I certainly didn’t expect to be taken on such an emotional ride. A rollicking ride that I will certainly never forget.

The premise is this: There is this insane, over-the-top, gruelling in a way I could have never conceived competition in Lyon, France – the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France competition (Best Craftsmen in France). It is only held every four years (not the only similarity to the olympics I might add). So for 4 years, 16 French pastry chefs think about and work towards the goal of winning this competition (you receive a prestigious blue, red and white striped collar to wear on your chef coat), then practice for a number of weeks and then compete for 3 straight days, often with little or no food. Just sheer will and determination.

There are 16 chefs, with 3 intimately profiled in the film: chef Jacquy Pfeiffer, co-founder of Chicago’s French Pastry School, chef Regis Lazard (competing for the second time, oh Lord – there was someone else there competing for the 4th time!) and chef Philippe Rigollot, from Maison Pic, France’s only three-star restaurant owned by a woman.

What you cannot comprehend without seeing it, is the majestic quality of these creations, sculptures and masterpieces, all made out of blown and sculptured sugar. And the massive amount of pieces that they have to make in just 3 days! It’s enough to make you want to lie down and have a nap. And then have a drink. And then have another nap…

As you know, sugar, chocolate and most baking ingredients are incredibly susceptible to the conditions around it. The heat and humidity of Lyon both before and during the competition, brings unexpected results for these chefs that have been working for years at this one shot to win the most coveted title their industry bestows.

I got emotionally invested in these real people. These pastry chefs (all men, by the way) that spend 4 years thinking about the MOF competition and then a grueling couple of weeks practicing and making hundreds of desserts in order to get their time and technique down. Then there’s the exhausting 3 days of competition where, much like the olympics, you must do better than you’ve ever done in order to win. With judges hovering over your every move to make sure that you’re not cheating. These 3 days are not just a few hours. They arrive at 4 or 5 am (oh, and it gets earlier every day) and leave when it is dark again. And they are completely spent. Like bootcamp spent.

I never realized what physical strength it took to make many of the items [I cringed through them pulling candy and then when they had to carefully carry tens of pounds of their delicate work to the various stations and judging tables without anything falling off or breaking (everything is held together with sugar and other ingredients - no krazy glue or the like  allowed]. And though I have spent years behind-the-scenes in high end restaurant kitchens, I did not know the mental stamina in which it took to do something like this, compete in your field of expertise. It is one of the most painful things I can imagine putting yourself, never mind your staff, family and friends through.

They should have called it The Most Insane, Intense Thing You’ll Ever Do. Ever.

I would like to tell you more, but I don’t want to ruin the surprise. Because there are so many. The theater was full of people gasping, laughing, clutching one another in joy, anticipation and despair and then, with eyes filled with tears.

I get emotional about very few things, but this movie took me inside these men’s lives and incredibly personal moments – their passions and disappointments. I will never forget them and their achingly almost impossible journey.

This movie changed everything I’ve ever thought about pastry and perhaps even how I think of myself.