Bernard Loiseau, the famous French chef who was the inspiration for Pixar Ratatouilleis scheduled to receive vital treatment.
Chi-Fou-Mi Productions, the Paris-based production company behind French box office hits such as Heartbeat (2024), Stronghold (2020) and dog 51 (2025) works with the Loiseau family on a feature film inspired by the life and legacy of the famous chef of his three-Michelin-starred restaurant La Côte d’Or, which transformed the village of Saulieu in Burgundy into a world-renowned gastronomic destination.
Thomas Lilti, a French director known for his films and television series about, among other things, doctors and the medical profession It is irreplaceable (2016) and Hippocrates: Diary of a French Physician (2014)) attached directly. Chi-Fou-Mi, a Mediawan company, will produce in association with Lilti’s 31 Juin Films.
Loiseau was a prominent figure in the French and international food scenes throughout the 1980s and 1990s. His life ended tragically, by suicide, in 2007. The cause of his death was the source of widespread speculation in the French media, with reports of depression caused by mounting debt and rumours, never proven, that the Michelin Guide was planning to remove one of La Côte d’Or’s three stars.
Loiseau has been cited as one of the main inspirations for the character Auguste Gusteau in Ratatouillea chef who dies of a broken heart after a scathing review by food critic Anton Ego results in him losing one of his stars.
“Since the beginning of my career, I have sought to photograph work and tell the stories of men and women facing their profession,” Laylati said. “With Bernard Loiseau, this question becomes more intimate, and that is what moves me so deeply about his story. To explore his life means to talk about excellence, work, doubt, legitimacy and isolation. It means trying to understand genius – in all its visionary power, but also in its deeply destructive dimension.”
The Loiseau family, through Groupe Bernard Loiseau, continues to operate La Côte d’Or, now under the name Le Relais Bernard Loiseau, and is supporting the biopic.
“We are deeply touched that Thomas Lilti showed such sensitivity to the story of Bernard Loiseau,” said Bérangère-Loiseau, president of the Bernard Loiseau Group. “Like medicine, gastronomy is a passion that calls for complete dedication to the service and happiness of others. The pursuit of excellence is constant: every gesture, every detail matters. This is exactly what drove Bernard Loiseau – love for others and the work done. Thomas Lilti understands all this with sincere respect and deep humanity.”
