Charlotte Le Bon: It was 'flattering' to be Dame Helen Mirren's protégé in The Hundred-Foot Journey

Actress Charlotte Le Bon has described working with the “beautiful” Dame Helen Mirren as “flattering”.

Le Bon, 28, who starred alongside the 69-year-old actress in The Hundred-Foot Journey, told The Evening Standard: “She’s amazing. To be her protégé it was flattering. She’s great – and so beautiful as well.”

The French actress, who plays Marguerite, a young chef who works at a Michelin-starred restaurant owned by Madame Mallory (played by Mirren) in the film said that The Queen actress took her as an equal.

“She takes you as an equal, which I think is really amazing when you’re Dame Helen Mirren,” she said. “I thought at first I would have been nervous but she’s so cool and easy. It was perfect.”

Le Bon, whose parents are both actors, also spoke about the industry’s “unfair” treatment of older actresses.

“Acting can be really difficult for older women,” she said. “My mother who is 55 was a very successful actress when she was in her 30s and early 40s and now she has hit a point where there are no parts for her. It’s crazy.

“A 55 year old woman has so much to share and to tell – a thousand times more than a young woman. In our society a woman of 50 is considered old which is completely silly. Their chance to share their voice is really limited now which is unfair.”

The Hundred Foot Journey – directed by Lasse Hallström and produced by Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey – marks the first major breakthrough role for LeBon who previously worked as an actress in small French productions and also had a career as a model – something she is keen not to revisit.

“I really did not enjoy it,” she said. “The industry is weird and it’s a very small world that has a lot of influence. To be defined just as an image for me was really reductive and I felt that I had so much more to share and there is no room for that in that business.

“It’s just about the way you look and the definition of beauty too is very limited which I think is silly because there are so many ways to be beautiful.”

The Hundred -Foot Journey is available on Blu-ray and DVD today, courtesy of Entertainment One.