Sugar and Stars

Director: Sebastien Tulard
Starring: Riadh Belaiche, Loubna Abidar, Marwan Amesker, Dycosh
Distributor: Rialto Distribution
Runtime: 110 mins. Reviewed in Jul 2023
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc

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Rating notes: Coarse language

Since he was a kid, Yazid has one big passion, pastry making. Raised between foster homes and group homes, the young man will try to make his dream come true.

Here is a cooking tale for a wide audience. While the French title means “Under the Stars”, and that is relevant for the experiences of the central character, Yazid (Algerian-born actor with charm, Belaiche) who for many years lived out in the open, literally under the stars, the English title by introducing sugar, is to the point. Yes, this is a cooking story, but it is a cooking story about desserts, elegant French desserts, ingredients, appearance, style.

But, interwoven with the cooking story is the history of the young Yazid (an engaging performance by Amesker). It is a social history story about migrants to France, foster families, life for teenagers in an institution. In fact, the narrative goes back and forth, having Yazid in the present remembering what it was like in the 1990s when he was a boy, and also remembering what his life was when he ventured into a Paris chef’s kitchen is in 2006. (The present story is 2013/2014 and the international competition for pastry chefs.)

At first, Yazid’s story is a sad one. The father is absent and his mother, Samia (Moroccan-born Abidar) has a drug habit and relies on government benefits, often scamming more than she is entitled. However, a kindly older couple become an alternative family for Yazid. The father has a background as a chef, and their teenage son is an enthusiastic teacher for Yazid who begins to make cakes and finds that he has a talent.

In his mid-teens Yazid is in a government institution, a victim of bullying and racial discrimination. However, when he makes a cake which delights everyone, the assistant director supports him, urging him to run away. Yazid goes to Paris to work with the famous chef, who though does not suffer fools gladly, on tasting one of Yazid’s desserts, decides to employ him. By 2013, Yazid is a chef at Riviera restaurant, put down by the jealous co-dessert chef, but good friends with Manu, another migrant who faces constant prejudice.

Yazid’s ambition is to win competitions, especially the world competition, and uses the fact of his being accused falsely and sacked from the restaurant, to gain the sponsorship of a previous customer who runs an extensive food empire.

Long story short, not spoiling the plot, because we know that there will be great attention to the competition, the different stages, the internationalism (from Belgium to Japan), the array of cakes, their look, our being envious of the judges who sit there tasting all, the ice sculptures, Yazid moved by the illness of his mother, his happiness at having his foster parents and money to at the competition, and a nice, happily-tearful climax.

The film is based on a book by Yazid and gives final photos of him, family and Manu, as well as information about what he has achieved in his chosen vocation in the last decade.