Sugar and Stars

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https://rialtodistribution.com/film/sugar-and-stars/

Date Reviewed: 20/07/2023

Debutant feature director Sebastian Tulard’s delicious culinary film offering Sugar and Stars most definitely should come with a warning – under no circumstances – watch on an empty stomach!

It’s an adaptation of the autobiographical book ‘Un rêve d’enfant étoilé’ (How pastry saved his life and educated him), by Yazid Ichemrahen who fights against the odds to become the 2014 world champion of frozen desserts.

Growing up with a toxic mother who can barely look after herself, let alone be shuttled to a foster family, and later a group home with other troubled adolescents aren’t exactly the beginnings of a fulfilling life for Yazid Ichemrahen. Battling homelessness while on a quest to be the best also doesn’t sound promising, yet Yazid did just that.

Sugar and Stars vacillates between new and old memories taking us from adult to child to adolescent Yazid and in between and while it is initially a little challenging to work out who exactly is who in Yazid’s home life as the story flits back and forth in time, I quickly got used to it.

Newcomer Riadh Belaïche, an Algeria-born French influencer known as Just Riadh, who has 6.7 million followers on TikTok, stars in the film alongside Loubna Abidar as Samia and Pascal Legitimus as Bouchard.

Belaïche is immensely believable and for a beginner managed the emotional scenes admirably. He even undertook training as a pâtissier and ice sculptor for the role of Yazid.

Marwan Amesker who plays Yazid as a child nails the character giving Yazid a sense of vulnerability and emotional fragility. His facial expressions really help us feel for the troubles and wrongs he is facing.

I loved the choice of music by Brice Davoli that is played when Yazid makes his desserts, (classical music) to that played when he’s in the undesirable areas and the home where he lived as an adolescent (rap)

The cinematography by Pierre Dejon with slow motion exquisitely zoomed in shots of the delicious dessert creations in all their silky, glossy, glory.

Renan Artukmaç, the deputy senior VP of international sales at France TV Distribution, said “Sugar and Stars” is a “universal tale because it shows someone coming from a broken home who manages to escape poverty and move up the social ladder.” At the same time, Artukmaç added, "it’s not a classic Cinderella story like American filmmakers tend to do. It’s very realistic as we see Yazid struggling between those two worlds for a while before making it.”

Sugar and Stars is a heartwarming drama that will have you yearning for chocolate and the finer culinary things of life!

Reviewed by Barry Hill OAM