A story centered around an Indian family who moves to France and opens a restaurant across the street from a Michelin-starred French restaurant.
Helen Mirren
Madam Mallory
Manish Dayal
Hassan
Om Puri
Papa
Charlotte Le Bon
Marguerite
Rohan Chand
Young Hassan
Juhi Chawla Mehta
Mama
Farzana Dua Elahe
Mahira
Dillon Mitra
Mukthar Kadam
Amit Shah
Mansur
Aria Pandya
Aisha
Michel Blanc
Mayor
Clément Sibony
Jean-Pierre
Vincent Elbaz
Paul
Alban Aumard
Marcel
Shuna Lemoine
Mayor's Wife
Antoine Blanquefort
Thomas
Malcolm Granath
Swedish Chef
Abhijit Buddhisagar
Baleine Grise Porter
Masood Akhtar
Anwar
Arthur Mazet
Waiter
Laetitia de Fombelle
Female Officer
Cédric Weber
Officer
Robert Gailhard
Mushroom Stall Holder
Matyelok Gibbs
Lady Shepherd
Paul Daubeze
Poultry Man
Didier Joy
Monsieur Itan
Max Rangotte
Angry Man
Saachi Parekh
Young Aisha
Shaunak Parekh
Young Mukhtar
Stéphanie Renouvin
Newsreader
Audrey Meschi
Baleine Grise Cook
Christian Allieres
Cafe Server
Patrick Blatger
Mechanic
Frederic Violante
Bike Rider
Piero Filippi
Dog Walker
Chantal Filippi
Dog Walker's Wife
Sanjay Sharma
Mob Leader
Morgan Perez
Guard
Jean Kinsell
French Critic (uncredited)
Director
Lasse Hallström
Author
Richard C. Morais
Screenplay
Steven Knight
February 10, 2024
7
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.