Food is memory and with that thought in mind, Lasse Hallström does for Indian cuisine what he and Juliet Binoche did for chocolate.

Co-produced by Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey, you might expect the kind of message-heavy, sentimental filmmaking the award-winning trio are fond of. And since this French-Indian story is based on a novel by Swiss raised, Portuguese-American author Richard Morais, the words 'global-pudding' spring readily to mind. Pleasingly, The Hundred Foot Journey is none of these things, but a confident crowd-pleaser with a discourse on the value of tradition, change and, of course, food.

In a small, French village, an immigrant family spice up their neighbour's Béchamel sauce when they open an Indian restaurant opposite her elegant, one Michelin star establishment. Tempers flare as culture, race, professional and generational differences collide. But when chief cook Hassan (Manish Dayal - The Domino Effect) is wooed by Mme Mallory (Helen Mirren - The Queen) because his talent might win her a second star, a truce is declared and understanding blossoms.

It's not difficult to work out where all this is heading, but uncharacteristic restraint gives it an edge. Although Hallström (Salmon Fishing In The Yemen) dances close to stereotype (snobby French, rowdy Indians), he also invests the characters with sufficient back story to loosen them from fairly prescribed roles: they become fleshy, interesting. Om Puri (The Reluctant Fundamentalist) is particularly effective as the family's patriarch, while a spiky Charlotte Le Bon (Yves St Laurent) as Hassan's potential girlfriend subverts expectation. Mirren is, of course, a pleasure.

Before a final run to the anticipated closing scenes, Hallström peppers the frame with modest commentary on loyalty and self determination. The spectre of racism is inevitable but given a twist by alluding to the darker forces of nationalism that now pervade Europe, even in sleepy French villages. Although the story loses some of its fire in the drawn out second half, only the churlish would find The Hundred Foot Journey in any way arduous. It's not a film to change your world, but this heart warming celebration of tradition, change and, of course, food, should make it a happier one.

// COLIN FRASER

Previewed at Events Cinemas, George St, Sydney on 28 July 2014