Parents' Guide to Julia

Julia Child was a force of nature in life as well as her long-running TV cooking show The French Chef, and this loving portrait captures both her powerful charm and her private insecurities. As we first meet her in Julia, Child is the 50-something wife of a diplomat, returned to America after a long stint in Paris, and though she's authored a hot French cookbook, she's expected to settle into a quiet retirement. Instead, she accepts an invitation to a public television show, where her boisterous demonstration on cooking a simple French omelette inspires viewers to write to the station asking for more. The TV guys -- White, be-suited, snobby -- don't think this woman should be on television: she's too tall; she's too old; doesn't her voice sound kind of weird? Confident Julia offers to pay for a pilot herself. If it doesn't fly, they're not out a cent and the idea of Julia Child on TV can die a quiet death.

Instead, as viewers are happily aware, Child went on to be a massive star and changed the landscape of gourmet cooking for good. Her triumphs are particularly exciting to watch for viewers who are themselves underrated by the world; Child's an underdog who proved naysayers wrong in a spectacular fashion. Portrayed by Sarah Lancashire, who does an uncanny impression of both Child's unusual demeanor and speaking voice, she's also a woman pained from the many slings and arrows life has thrown at her. The great success of Julia lies in its ability to simultaneously thrill viewers with Child's achievements, while allowing us to glimpse the real, vulnerable woman underneath.