“On passion, conversation, and the simple recipe for happiness”

Sometimes the best way to understand a culture isn’t through its monuments or museums, but through the rituals that bring people together. Here in France, it’s at a table, in a theater, and with a glass of wine in hand. Paris continues to teach this lesson repeatedly. One evening, I found myself caught up in such a moment when cinema, cuisine, and conversation came together.

The film was La Passion de Dodin Bouffant, which first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Having strolled the streets of Cannes with my husband, I felt a deep connection to love, food, and devotion, even though I was experiencing the screen romance alone. Well, almost alone, because in that cozy room at the historic L’Arlequin cinema known for its international films, I was soon surrounded by strangers who, for one night, felt like friends.

Some films feel less like entertainment and more like an invitation.   La Passion de Dodin Bouffant was that for me. Set in late 19th-century France, the story follows Dodin Bouffant, a renowned gourmand, and Eugénie, the woman who cooked alongside him for over two decades. Their meals are masterpieces, and their bond…though never bound by marriage, carries a kind of intimacy that goes beyond convention. Watching the film, I was less focused on the plot than on how it unfolded: slow, tender, and rhythmic. Each scene of chopping, simmering, tasting felt like a prayer to love itself.

For me, food has always been more than just sustenance. I grew up watching my grandmothers weave culinary moments into the fabric of my life, whether preparing something simple, like a dumpling soup simmering in a basic broth, or a pot roast with tender braised beef and carrots.  As my tastes matured, so too did my experiences.  Traveling as an adult, I began to appreciate not just the comfort of those early dishes but also the finer details and the intellectual intensity that food can convey.  Cooking, I’ve discovered, is an act of devotion. And in watching Dodin and Eugénie, I was reminded of the ways my grandmothers and I have now expressed love through the table with my own family.  These shared meals are never just about food; they are quiet gestures that say, you matter, this moment matters, we matter. In their simplicity, they become sacred, carrying forward a lineage of care that nourishes both the body and soul.

What lingered most was a feeling of nostalgia, and how the film explored passion and creativity not as fleeting intensities, but as a steady, sustaining flames. It reminded me of my visit just days earlier to the Musee Rodin and his former Maison, where I walked among his sculptures and gardens. I felt immersed in his way of seeing the world. Auguste Rodin, France’s great sculptor of The Thinker and The Kiss, believed that happiness was not found in constant novelty but in constancy itself. His words, carved as sharply into my memory as any of his bronzes, will keep guiding me in love and in life: “Happiness is the desire to continue to want what one already has.” The brilliance of that statement is its simplicity. Happiness isn’t in the having, but in the wanting, in the choosing again and again. To want love, to want connection, to savor beauty…and with my husband, this rings especially true. Twenty-nine years together have not dulled desire, but reshaped it into something deeper, something chosen daily.

Ironically, it wasn’t just the feelings of devout dedication emanating from the film that left me reflecting, but also the gathering around it. The screening was part of Frenchlation, a cultural project that brings English speakers in Paris together to watch French films with subtitles. Before the movie, a cocktail hour was hosted by Paris Wine Girl, who poured glasses of carefully chosen wines alongside cheeses that could make even Dodin pause. It was one of those evenings where the air itself seemed to hum with possibility.

I found myself surrounded by stories: a lively and social woman from Spain, a thoughtful man from Belgium, a young woman from Vancouver studying at the Sorbonne, and another from Boston on a gap year, splitting her time between tending vineyards in the Loire Valley and helping build homes in Brittany. Then there was a striking woman with a simple smile from San Diego who had moved to Nice a year ago in search of a livelier environment while working remotely, as her children were grown, and she jumped at the idea of working in Europe. Arriving in Paris, knowing no one, she joined Bumble not for romance but to have a conversation and feel a connection. A coffee date led to something more, and now, less than a year later, she is preparing to marry the man she met that first week. We traded these life journeys over three flights of wine, curated by Wine Girl, and an assortment of Camembert cheese, and for that moment, the world felt smaller, friendlier, and full.  

Leaving the event and walking down the rue de Rennes, I realized that nights like this are part of what makes Paris so special – not just the sights or museums, but the way strangers can come together in a hidden spot, bonded by curiosity and a love of film, wine, and conversation.

Reflecting the next morning as I sipped my hazelnut coffee, the glow from the film and the warmth of shared stories reaffirm what it means to live fully: to love, to savor, to listen, and to keep wanting. La Passion de Dodin Bouffant may have been set in another century, but its lesson is timeless. Passion, whether for food, a partner, or life itself, isn’t a flame that quickly burns out; it’s a steady fire we nurture with care, joy, and gratitude. And the recipe for happiness is simpler than we think: good food, good wine, a few strangers who become friends, and loved ones by your side. In writing this, my three men will be on their way to visit me soon, their arrivals stacking like courses in a Dodin feast, and my heart is full.