Riadh Belaïche as pastry chef Yazid Ichemrahen. Photo / Supplied
Riadh Belaïche as pastry chef Yazid Ichemrahen. Photo / Supplied
For anyone who can’t go past a foodie movie, and those hungry for an inspiring true triumph-over-adversity story, Sugar and Stars should satisfy both appetites nicely.
It’s based on the rags-to-rich-food autobiography of young French-Moroccan pastry chef Yazid Ichemrahen, who overcame a childhood of poverty and hardship to pursue hisdream of representing France at the world championships for frozen desserts. No, I didn’t know there was such a specific contest, either.
As the story jumps between his sad upbringing and later life, we see the unwanted little Yazid being shuttled between his scarily chaotic birth mother and the warmth of a loving foster family, where he develops a taste for baking. As a teen, he starts sneaking out of his residential boys’ home to travel 200km to Paris to train under his idol, chef Massena (Jean-Yves Berteloot).
But impoverished immigrant orphans aren’t expected to amount to much, and Yazid’s complicated life threatens his chance at a top-tier culinary career.
Surprisingly, for someone famed as an “Internet personality”, 24-year-old Riadh Belaïche plays Yazid with enormous confidence, although the supporting cast are somewhat caricatured.
Sugar and Stars feels like a mix of gritty, street-set dramas à la Athena and The Stronghold with gentler kitchen capers such as Delicious. Indeed, Yazid’s confections wouldn’t be out of place in the mouthwatering documentary Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles.
It’s a film following a predictable recipe, one that adds the occasional bombast of an action movie in which the ticking time bomb is a black forest dessert creation. But it’s nonetheless tasty and engaging.
