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Plot |
Hassan (Manish Dayal) is traveling through France with his family looking for a location for their new restaurant. His father (Om Puri) discovers a possible place when they have car trouble, but this location proves to be difficult because there is already a fine eating establishment a hundred feet away from it and the owner there is not above playing dirty tricks to keep her restaurant in the limelight. Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren) has been looking for years to improve the rating of her eatery. Elsewhere her sous chef Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon) is warming up to Hassan after hours. She is helping him to cook classic France food. Hassan uses his new knowledge to wow Madame Mallory, much to Marguerite’s displeasure when Hassan soon outranks Marguerite in Madame Mallory restaurant. |
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Character Development |
There is much growth among the various characters in this film. Hassan and his father follow their own paths as well as Madame Mallory and Marguerite. There is a full range of developments here. |
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Acting |
The acting was quite good for the most part. Helen Mirren and Om Puri really played their parts well and easily stole the show here, though Manish Dayal and Charlotte Le Bon do show some chemistry on screen as well. |
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Overview |
This is an understandably a very solid picture with one noticeable defect. Towards the end of the film the story doesn’t finish and continues on several more minutes. It seemed to stutter instead of end with a smooth transition. For the most part this is a very enjoyable film with a lot of love and heart and an unbelievable good dose of food being displayed and prepared. The story works with the help of a great cast, using conflicts that are both entertaining and without being farfetched. |
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