Publisher: CinemaSerf February 10, 2024
Om Puri and his family are forced from their home in India by violence and briefly come to London before moving to a rural French community where he discovers a derelict old building situated opposite a Michelin-starred restaurant. Their first visit to the ruin is not auspicious. Their new neighbour "Mme. Mallory" (Dame Helen Mirren) is profoundly disapproving of what she clearly thinks will lower the tone, but he couldn't care less, buys the place and after a refurbishment is ready for opening night. Meantime, his talented and rather dashing son "Hassan" (Manish Dayal) plays a much more diplomatic game and befriends her employee "Marguerite" (Charlotte Le Bon). She lends him a few books on French cuisine and he starts to experiment. The remainder of the story is entirely predictable, but the writers have invested some time in building some likeable characters whilst incorporating some bloody-mindedness, gentle stereotyping and some sentimentality as we see it's not just the cuisines that can fuse effectively. Dame Helen looks like she's having some fun here and has a genuinely engaging rapport with an on-form Puri - their battle of the curmudgeons is quite entertaining and I did pity the poor old mayor (Michel Blanc), even if he did seem to get a great deal of delicious free food. Dayal also brings a bit of charm to his role and the whole film has exactly the same feel-good factor to it as you'd feel after a fine meal with a decent claret.