![Image](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjViMTBjZmYtNTI0ZC00YjU0LWFlY2YtOTFkNDgyMjM5MDNjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTE0MzQwMjgz._V1_QL75_UY281_CR17,0,500,281_.jpg)
The table is set for Oscar shortlist voting to begin on Thursday. In the documentary feature category, Academy Doc Branch members will be choosing from a buffet of 167 films, among them Frederick Wiseman’s Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros.
The filmmaking legend’s latest documentary reveals in his characteristically meticulous style the workings of several restaurants in rural France owned and operated by the Troisgros family for going on a hundred years. Their signature establishment, Le Bois Sans Feuilles, is acclaimed as one of the finest restaurants in the world, with the Michelin stars (three of them) to prove it.
Carrying on the culinary tradition is chef Michel Troisgros and sons César and Léo (Michel’s wife Marie-Pierre runs a family-owned hotel). Wiseman, who turns 94 in a few weeks, lives for much of the year in Paris, and traveled to the area of Ouches outside Lyon to document the Troisgros’ and the...
The filmmaking legend’s latest documentary reveals in his characteristically meticulous style the workings of several restaurants in rural France owned and operated by the Troisgros family for going on a hundred years. Their signature establishment, Le Bois Sans Feuilles, is acclaimed as one of the finest restaurants in the world, with the Michelin stars (three of them) to prove it.
Carrying on the culinary tradition is chef Michel Troisgros and sons César and Léo (Michel’s wife Marie-Pierre runs a family-owned hotel). Wiseman, who turns 94 in a few weeks, lives for much of the year in Paris, and traveled to the area of Ouches outside Lyon to document the Troisgros’ and the...
- 12/13/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
![Image](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOWIyM2ZjMTgtYjMxNC00OGNkLWFiNmEtZjJhOWFkZTdiYTJhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTE0MzQwMjgz._V1_QL75_UY281_CR0,0,500,281_.jpg)
Going deep inside the human body, rethinking a Thelonious Monk interview, solitary island life, capturing one of the finest restaurants in the world, exploring the trans experience, and examining how we listen to movies—just a few of the subjects and stories this year’s documentaries brought us. With 2023 wrapping up, we’ve selected the non-fiction features that left us most impressed. If you’re looking for where to stream them, check out our handy guide here.
32 Sounds (Sam Green)
Filmmaker Sam Green captures something so specific here: he makes audio the star of a motion picture. It’s a lovely inclination and a worthwhile escapade. There are funny moments, clever moments, plenty that are heartfelt. Sound can do so many different things! This is an exceedingly well-produced work, its perfect length and the audible narrative it designs building succinctly to a lovely finale. Toss on those headphones and get...
32 Sounds (Sam Green)
Filmmaker Sam Green captures something so specific here: he makes audio the star of a motion picture. It’s a lovely inclination and a worthwhile escapade. There are funny moments, clever moments, plenty that are heartfelt. Sound can do so many different things! This is an exceedingly well-produced work, its perfect length and the audible narrative it designs building succinctly to a lovely finale. Toss on those headphones and get...
- 12/4/2023
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
![Image](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYzlmNTA4MDUtZDM3Ny00NDIyLWFkZWYtYmM4MjQyNzI1YzVlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTE0MzQwMjgz._V1_QL75_UY281_CR17,0,500,281_.jpg)
A menu is a living thing at any Michelin-starred restaurant — a script at the mercy of seasons, ingredients, personnel, and more — and a Michelin-starred restaurant is only as good as its ability to harness the relentless churn known to all living things into creative energy. That’s true of eateries that have only been awarded one pathetic star, and it’s perhaps three times as true for the likes of Le Bois sans Feuilles, which opened in 2017 and continued a tradition of three-star ratings that began with the head chef’s father more than 30 years ago — a run that spans multiple centuries, locations, and generations.
By the time that Frederick Wiseman decided to make it the subject of his latest documentary, Le Bois sans Feuilles (lit. “The Forest without Leaves”) was so consistently drawing its power from the flow of change that it had already become the haute cuisine equivalent of a water wheel,...
By the time that Frederick Wiseman decided to make it the subject of his latest documentary, Le Bois sans Feuilles (lit. “The Forest without Leaves”) was so consistently drawing its power from the flow of change that it had already become the haute cuisine equivalent of a water wheel,...
- 11/21/2023
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
![Frederick Wiseman at an event for La dernière lettre (2002)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjA3NjA0ODAwNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNTM4NzY1._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,3,140,207_.jpg)
![Frederick Wiseman at an event for La dernière lettre (2002)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjA3NjA0ODAwNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNTM4NzY1._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,3,140,207_.jpg)
The first of Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros‘ four hours moves as quick as a glacier. Herbs are inspected at a farmer’s market. Two chefs weigh up the benifits of pike and zander. Fans of Frederick Wiseman, immediately recognizing these rhythms, know to sit back and relax: his cinema is usually as taxing as a breath of air––probably as good for the system. Plaisirs is Wiseman at his most indulgent. There is a section that goes in deep on how cheese is aged. There is a visit to a beekeeper and another to a vineyard. But Plaisirs‘ 240 minutes are mostly spent charting a day in the life at Troisgros, one of the oldest three-Michelin-starred restaurants in the world. Suffice it to say: do not enter on an empty stomach.
Plaisirs is among a handful of the director’s 50-odd films set in France. Crazy Horse (2011), Le Danse (2009), and La Comédie...
Plaisirs is among a handful of the director’s 50-odd films set in France. Crazy Horse (2011), Le Danse (2009), and La Comédie...
- 9/22/2023
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
![Frederick Wiseman at an event for La dernière lettre (2002)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjA3NjA0ODAwNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNTM4NzY1._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,3,140,207_.jpg)
![Frederick Wiseman at an event for La dernière lettre (2002)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjA3NjA0ODAwNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNTM4NzY1._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,3,140,207_.jpg)
In Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros, Frederick Wiseman settles into a three-star Michelin eatery in Roanne, France, run by a single family for generations, and unearths another of his temples of contemplation. An early scene grabs us immediately with its fine-grained texture, establishing an absorbing, quotidian-minded tempo that’s characteristic of Wiseman’s other non-fictional epics. Over the course of many minutes, we watch as La Maison Troisgros’s aging yet vigorous head chef and owner, Michel Troisgros, debates the particulars of an asparagus dish with his son and successor, César. Is the soy sauce, for umami, an element too many? Is the almond shaving superfluous? Is an elderberry reduction possible? The chefs’ eagerness for perfection feels less entitled than earnest—a striving to hone their art.
Wiseman allows this scene to unfold over a medium shot, as Michel and César sit at a table in the eatery’s dining room after hours,...
Wiseman allows this scene to unfold over a medium shot, as Michel and César sit at a table in the eatery’s dining room after hours,...
- 9/22/2023
- by Chuck Bowen
- Slant Magazine
![Image](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMGU2MjA5NGYtYTFjNi00OThhLWI4NjItMzBmMTA0YzYwYzU4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTE0MzQwMjgz._V1_QL75_UX500_CR0,26,500,281_.jpg)
The film goes behind the scenes at renowned French restaurant La Maison Troisgros that has held three Michelin stars for the past five decades
Paris-based The Party Film Sales has reteamed with Frederick Wiseman for his French food and family-focused documentary Menus Plaisirs – Les Troisgros, ahead of the film’s global premiere in Venice and North American debut in Toronto.
Wiseman will be back on the Lido just one year after his previous feature A Couple screened in competition, this time with a return to his traditional documentary form. The film is the 93-year-old director’s behind-the-scenes excursion into...
Paris-based The Party Film Sales has reteamed with Frederick Wiseman for his French food and family-focused documentary Menus Plaisirs – Les Troisgros, ahead of the film’s global premiere in Venice and North American debut in Toronto.
Wiseman will be back on the Lido just one year after his previous feature A Couple screened in competition, this time with a return to his traditional documentary form. The film is the 93-year-old director’s behind-the-scenes excursion into...
- 7/31/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.