The Mistress of Spices (2005) Reviews

• Review from 2005 TIFF

  riid2005-09-18

  I saw this film at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival. Mistress of Spices is based on the novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, and is the directorial debut for Paul Mayeda Berges. Berges has worked previously with his wife, Gurinder Chadha, on a number of films including Bend it Like Beckham and Bride and Prejudice. Chadha co-wrote the screenplay here with her husband. The movie follows Tilo, played by Aishwarya Rai, who is a member of an old, mystical cult that worships spice in all its forms. She is sent to Oakland to open a shop and help people using the mysterious powers of the spices. Tilo, who also has the power to see visions of the future, soon ends up helping a whole coterie of characters: a man (Anupam Kher) who is distressed over his granddaughter (Padma Lakshmi), a woman who has grown up in America and adopted western ways, much to his dismay; Jagjit (Sonny Gill Dulay), a teenager who is having trouble with the kids at school; Haroun (Nitin Chandra Ganatra), a cab driver that has a cloudy future; Kwesi (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), a man trying to win the heart of a woman. But to be successful, Tilo must follow three rules: one, she must never leave the store; two, she must never touch the skin of another person; three, she can never use the spices for her own gain. One day a man (Dylan McDermott) falls off his motorcycle outside her store and they are both instantly drawn to one another, challenging Tilo's devotion to her cause and threatening her control over the spices. This is a nice, light film, reminiscent in many ways of Chocolat, with Aishwarya Rai in the Juliette Binoche role. Rai is luminous on screen, and the chemistry between her and Dylan McDermott is good. I didn't think the voice-over narration of Rai's character's inner thoughts was entirely successful, although I can't see how else you could really do it; funny enough, the voice-overs reminded me of another spice-related movie, David Lynch's Dune. The movie explores a bit of the mixing between east and west and the conflict between old and new, but not quite as successfully as some of Berges' and Chadha's other films, but that is probably due more to the limitations of creating an adaptation.

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• Aishwarya Rai Makes This Little Film Worth

  claudio_carvalho2007-11-11

  In India, Tilo (Aishwarya Rai) has the ability of foreseeing the future. When their parents are killed by bandits, she is kidnapped but escapes and is raised by the First Mother (Zohra Segal) in a sort of traditional cult of spices. She becomes the Mistress of Spices and is sent to the Spice Bazaar in San Francisco, with the mission of following three basic rules: help her clients to accomplish their desires with the spices, but never hers; never leave the store; and never be touched in the skin. When she meets the handsome American architect Doug (Dylan McDermott), she feels a great attraction and desire for him, breaking the first rule and being punished by the spices. "The Mistress of Spices" is a predictable but pleasant film that uses the idea of movies like "Chocolate", "Woman on Top", "Como Agua Para Chocolate" blending romance with food or spice or chocolate or cookies. Therefore, the flawed story has no originality and is quite boring and messy in many moments. However, the cinematography is wonderful, with magnificent colors highlighted on DVD. Further, the gorgeous Miss World 1994 and Queen of Bollywood Aishwarya Rai makes this little film worth with her beauty and participating in most of the scenes. My vote is six. Title (Brazil): "O Sabor da Magia" ("The Flavor of Magic")

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• A good fairy tale...

  legofrod2006-05-02

  I had almost decided not to watch this movie, what with all the people word-bashing its senselessness. But go I did... fortunately. Yes, it's not great cinema... of great courage, making you cry... making you angry. But it is good cinema... and a faithful representation of the book. The book is a fairy-tale, simple to the core, and so is the movie. And who says Aish cannot act? Just look at the finer nuances of her eyes and eyebrows when she is required to emote, and you will realize that this girl knows what it takes to enact a character which has already been "written about" in a book. Yes, she underplays the role... but that is what her character is, right? A woman who is poised, but sometimes the deepest feelings find their vent. I am surely impressed by Aish's restrained expression of feelings... and people who mistake this for an incapacity to act, God give them the subtleties of discernment. Go watch this movie... not to come out exhilarated or flustered... but to enjoy a good fairy tale, for that's what it is.

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• Is there a spice that encourages subtlety?

  sarahjane-h-j2006-12-17

  So I randomly flipped open a newspaper one Friday night to look at the movie listings, and on a whim decided to check this one out. I was expecting something simple, dumb, yet enchanting - something in the realm of Chocolat or Bewitched. This, however, was WAY below my expectations, and I think that could have been prevented by simply adding one ingredient - a different director. Aishwarya is absolutely beautiful, and I'm sure that she can act - when she's given something to work with. Unfortunately her only given function in the movie is to stare wide-eyed out the window of her shop at the world around her. How disappointing. Then there's Dylan McDermott, the beautiful stranger who captures the mistress' attention. He's cute enough to pull off his part well, and seems to be the master of sultry stares. Then comes the myriad of regular customers, bright and interesting personalities that could have been the highlight of this movie if it weren't for the director's insistence on putting random Tilo voice-overs in whenever the customers were about to say something interesting. Was it really necessary for them to be constantly interrupted? The problem isn't in the story - it's quite enchanting. Banal, yes, but what movie isn't nowadays? The problem was the lack of subtlety. OH NOES! DANGER! THE CAMERA'S SUDDENLY FOCUSSING ON A PILE OF RED CHILI PEPPERS! The problem got so serious that 20 minutes into the movie, the audience (including myself) would laugh at every chili pepper that came onto the screen. Constant flashes forward to events that may or may not happen? Unnecessary. Doug's extremely random back-story that doesn't greatly affect the plot? Unnecessary. The store suddenly collapsing thanks to mysterious unexplained powers? Weird, and again unnecessary. If only Gurinder Chadra, the screenwriter, had directed this. I really enjoyed her Bend it Like Beckham, which nicely mixed cheesy Bollywood cinema with modern "dromedy". I think something much nicer (and much more tasteful) would have been produced.

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• another review from the TIFF

  mamlukman2005-09-20

  I also saw this at the Toronto Inter. Film Festival last week. There were three screenings of the movie, each sold out as far as I know. Although Toronto has a very large Indian population, Indians were a small percentage of the audience at my screening. A few additional comments to the earlier review: The director, producer, author, and Dylan McDermott were at my screening to answer questions. Apparently Gurinder has wanted to make a movie of the book ever since it was published. Chitra Divakaruni, the author, said she was very happy with the movie even though in some ways it is different from the book. The movie tried to retain the spirit of the book even though some details have changed. For example, the young Tilo is captured by pirates in the movie, but escapes very quickly and swims to the island; when she goes to Oakland she keeps her own body (thank God!)and doesn't turn into an old woman, etc.--in other words,the movie tries to keep to the main story and avoids complications as much as possible. The main problem I had with the movie is that it is very important to accept the magical atmosphere. But the movie starts with Tilo already in the spice shop in Oakland, then shows how she got there in a series of flashbacks. If you don't already know the story, I think that makes it harder to accept. Presenting the story in chronological order, as the book does, might have been better since you could understand the magic from the beginning instead of starting off in Oakland (which is not a very magical place to most people). Another issue was the stories of the various customers--these stories are necessary to show the various magical effects of the spices, but too much of that would distract you from the main story. I think the balance was just about right, but there were some loose ends--I would like to have seen just a bit more of the Padma Lakshmi character, for example. It was these side stories that added the humor to the movie. I am a huge Aishwarya fan, and I was happy. She did a very good job, and for once the director allowed the camera to spend some time focusing on her face instead of cutting away immediately, and there were a lot of close-ups. Naturally Aishwarya was in almost every scene. The story itself is fairly simple. Since Aishwarya can't leave the store, there's not a lot of action--how many times can you pick up a handful of spices and make it interesting? But you got involved in the characters and wanted them to get together. When they finally have their night of passion, they kiss almost everywhere but the lips...I assume to keep the taboo of Indian films. The director made the wise choice of going for close-ups as Dylan undresses her--very erotic.

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