What Are Marrons Glaces from 'The French Dispatch'?
In Wes Anderson’s new movie The French Dispatch, slippery art dealer Julian Cadazio (played by Adrien Brody) bribes a prison guard with a marron glacé, or candied chestnut. The stone-faced guard unwraps the bite-sized confection and pops it into his mouth. Watching the film in a theatre near the Palais Garnier, I found the casting choice of marron glacé highly satisfying. Like the aperitif trays and old world locales, it was one of many rich details of French life that Anderson wove into his tableaux.
Marrons glacés are a fixture of the holidays in France. Marrons, a special chestnut from the Ardèche region, are harvested in early fall and their delicate candied form proliferates in sweets shops around the country in mid-November. With their stylish packaging and Willy Wonka-esque colorful wrappers, they’re a lovely and timeless gift idea. Take it from Proust, who mentions them as a New Year’s gift in his great masterpiece Swann’s Way (which I am yet to read but I do know that the crumby madeleines made a greater impression).