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Boston Globe

‘Carême' brings ‘yes, chef' energy to 19th-century France

Indeed, non-Francophiles may need a second to orient themselves to this particular slice of history; the series caters more toward those already steeped in France's political evolution than those who need a beginner's guide. The fast-paced, handsomely shot show is set a few years after the French Revolution, where Carême's namesake Marie Antoinette and her husband, King Louis XVI, were guillotined and Napoleon Bonaparte (a little-seen Franck Molinaro) took charge as First Consul of the newly formed French Republic. It's ostensibly a time of peace, although lingering royalists and revolutionaries often clash with Bonaparte's supporters, and everyday Parisians are worried they've traded one totalitarian regime for another. In other words, things are tense for just about everyone, including the show's pulled-from-the-history-books political players. Fresh off butchering dissenters during the Reign of Terror, officious chief of police Joseph Fouché (Micha Lescot doing his best Javert) is quick to crush any threat of rebellion in Paris. Napoleon's wife, Joséphine (Maud Wyler), meanwhile, is focused on the kind of soft-power and glad-handing her husband detests, even as she worries this whole Republic experiment may collapse if she can't produce an heir. Advertisement And working from the shadows is nobleman Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (Jérémie Renier), a savvy statesman who's happy to change up his stances, allies, and tactics in order to hold France together — and elevate his own position in the process. (The history books now remember 'Talleyrand' as a nickname for crafty, ever-shifting diplomacy.) Into that political hotbed comes Carême, a culinary savant everyone wants to use as their political pawn — ostensibly because chefs have easy access to the elite, but mostly because he's too sexy to resist. Lanky, tousled, and playfully flirtatious, Voisin reads like a cross between Jeremy Allen White and Timothée Chalamet; both brashly demanding and boyishly charming. It's a seductive central performance, and his modernized costuming only adds to the idea that Carême is the bad boy of French cooking. (While everyone else is vaguely period appropriate, he's styled like a pirate prince wearing Primark's fall coat collection.) Introduced, uh, experimenting with whipped cream with his paramour Henriette (Lyna Khoudri), Carême has an ambitious desire to elevate French cooking to new heights by bringing architectural elements to his work. (Think elaborate cakes styled as Egyptian pyramids, sugar sculptures made to look like ships, and a new dish called vol-au-vent.) Though he's no Napoleon fan, he's more interested in petit fours than France's political woes. Advertisement But when his adoptive father/patisserie mentor Sylvain Bailly (Vincent Schmitt) is arrested by Fouché on trumped up charges, Carême reluctantly agrees to work for Talleyrand in exchange for help freeing him — taking up a role as both head chef and unofficial spy. That makes Talleyrand half mentor introducing Carême to high society and half crime boss demanding his protégé do his bidding. While the real-life Carême really did work for Talleyrand on important diplomatic meals, the series heightens that idea into a full-on espionage thriller. Though 'Carême' is based on a biography by British writer-actor Ian Kelly, who serves as co-creator along with Italian writer Davide Serino, the show plays pretty fast and loose with history. It frequently embraces a ' It's a bit of a goofy premise that also gives the show a welcome episodic structure. Each week features a new high-stakes meal in which Carême must pull off some kind of mission for Talleyrand. In one episode, he delivers a booze-soaked buffet as part of an entrapment scheme. In another, he uses the cover of a luncheon to search for a hidden piece of evidence. At one point, he's shipped off to Warsaw to cook a meal so good it will convince Louis's exiled brother to renounce the throne. When food fails, Carême often turns to sex to get what he needs instead. (Though he doesn't sleep with the exiled king, he does suggest it.) The tone of it all sits somewhere between knowingly ridiculous and emotionally committed. Advertisement "Carême" combines food and political intrigue. Apple TV+ Of course, given that the real Carême is most famous for his massive impact on French cooking, it's a little weird that the show foregrounds the spy stuff so much. When it comes to the food, the series relies more on montage than exposition to explore what made Carême's cooking so influential — simple but innovative ingredients, elaborately detailed presentations, and a focus on streamlining the process of working in a kitchen. (Get ready for perhaps the first 'yes chef' in culinary history.) The scenes where Carême and his kitchen staff pull together a meal or invent a new dish are exhilarating in their own right. And one of the show's most electric relationships is between Carême and his talented sous-chef Agathe (Alice Da Luz), which plays like an even more sexually charged riff on the dynamic between Still, though it's odd that there are more double crosses than double creams in a show about a famed pastry chef, the French history riffs are at least zippily delivered. The series is also gorgeous to look at, with great production design for its bustling kitchens and opulent banquets. And Carême's complicated relationship with Talleyrand is a strong central anchor, particularly as the season goes on. (This is clearly a show that's gunning for a second season.) While 'Carême' never reaches the refinement of fine dining, it delivers a historical smorgasbord with a little something for every palate. Advertisement CARÊME Starring Benjamin Voisin, Jérémie Renier, Micha Lescot, Alice Da Luz. On Apple TV+