La Mirande, Florent Pietravalle, vertelling van een keerpunt

There are places where time slowly settles, like a patina.La Mirande in Avignon is one of them.Behind its history-laden walls, Florent Pietravalle has been crafting for nearly a decade a vibrant, instinctive cuisine — deeply connected to nature.A cuisine of balance and passion, guided by respect for both the product and the artisans.

When I heard he was preparing to turn a page — leaving La Mirande on January 1st, 2026 to devote himself to a more personal project — I wanted to capture that pivotal moment.

Not as a farewell, but as a breath between two chapters.

I approached this film as a whisper. Not a report, nor a simple archive — but a visual translation of a state of mind. It doesn’t tell the story of a chef’s departure, but rather the weight of gestures, the poetry of silences, the gentle sweetness of a place about to fall quiet for a while.

For days, I wandered through the kitchens, the corridors, the gardens — watching the light slide over the copper, the steam rising from the pans, the hands reaching out.There was that quiet weight in the air, the kind you feel before a parting.No words were needed: everything flowed through Florent’s gaze, in the rhythm of his gestures.

I chose to film and let Florent speak — with raw, honest material.To that, I added the magic of the place: the breath, the fire, the water, the sound of a knife, the murmur of a service.Let the image speak. Let cooking become a language.

The result is a floating portrait — a snapshot of emotion on the eve of departure.Released alongside the Gault & Millau article announcing this turning point, the film extends the story into a more sensory experience: that of one cycle ending and another beginning.

For me, it’s more than a project — it’s a testament to trust and transmission.

A rare piece, in which every shot reflects the fragility of a moment that will never return.

To film is to keep a record.This film is about a chef leaving a place — yet leaving behind an indelible imprint on the gastronomic landscape and the region.

And then there’s that word — the one that’s echoed since the very first day: just.

In this video, everything felt right.Reading the reactions after its release, I told myself I hadn’t been mistaken.Of course, there’s the magic of editing — but everything rang true.

Florent Pietravalle is the same behind the stove as he is outside of it: pure sincerity, dizzying precision.His cooking strikes you and soothes you in the same motion. It moves through a thousand nuances, like a conversation between kindred spirits.

He puts it perfectly: “A passionate person speaking to another passionate person.”And that’s exactly what I experienced during this shoot.