The hugely successful team that graced us with Bride and Prejudice and Bend it like Beckham- both critical hits, has brought us Mistress of the Spices. Gurinder Chadha, the driving force behind those previous hits, passes over the directing duties to her partner, Paul Mayeda Berges. Although the films itself has some flaws, there is one key element that not only makes it work, but also elevates it above standard Hollywood films. Aishwarya Rai's central performance firmly establishes not only her acting credentials, but also her impending A-list status across the cinematic globe.

Aishwarya Rai is the Mistress of the title, Tilo, one of many who have been sent around the world to spread the message of love using the magical art of spices. Her life in America is a simple one as she helps a myriad of characters from the natives to fellow travelers in their daily loves and lives. On the surface she appears content, but for her to keep her powers she must adhere to the strict rules of the spices. Then one day she meets an American who either by fate or coincidence comes to her store following a motorbike accident. After patching him up, she realizes that she is in danger of breaking the rules by being attracted to him, and in turn could harm the others she cares so much for…

One of the films main problems is the closed nature of the set design. Yes, Tilo is supposed to be trapped, but there is never a sense of claustrophobia, only an occasional awareness that everything looks a little staged. This may well be due to the films primary location being downtown, Isle of Man, rather than San Francisco as stipulated by the story. On the plus side the sense of release when the characters from these confines of the 'Spice Bazaar' is palpable. If the film were a gentle sitcom (ala Open all hours) this would be a perfect setting, unfortunately for a big-budget movie, perhaps not.

There is also a valuable point to be made about the supporting players. The love interest played by Dylan Mcdermott may well look the part (apparently), but he seems a bit too wimpy to really attract Tilo. Also, the other members of the cast are given precious little time to develop their characters, and their stories seem a little to conveniently wrap up by the finale. British stars such as Caroline Chikezie, Adewele Akinnouye-Agbaje and Nitin Gantra have all done the best with their limited screen on time, thankfully for all concerned this may well be the stepping to higher things.

To be fair, for Aishwarya Rai to excel as she does in this film, doesn't take for her to be in practically every scene-which she is. From the outset, everyone has known that the camera is her friend, but to convince the doubters that she can hold an English language movie without the safety net of impromptu song and dance numbers is a difficult trick to pull off. The film would have fallen flat on almost every level if she didn't carry the plot along. Here she is given the room, and responsibility, of expressing all the intimate thoughts of her character. It is here that the story's novella background is most evident. From the closed nature of the set-ups to the overuse of voiceovers the pace can well be a little confusing. There are times when nothing happens really quickly, and others when lifetimes pass in the blink of an eye.

Writers, Berges and Charda do well not to layer on the social importance aspects of the film too thickly. Although, there are a couple of occasions when it is made clear that the Mistress's struggles to ingratiate herself with the wider world could be an analogy for the struggles of immigrants to come to terms with western cultures, these are seemingly only passing phases in the film. The story works best when concentrating on the mystical elements of Tilo and her struggle to balance these elements and her desires.

Mistress of the Spices has flaws, as highlighted, but the central performance is simply spellbinding. If for no other reason, you could do a lot worse than checking this film out when it hits the screens near you…