The Hundred-Foot Journey

Synopsis: The Khadem family, headed up by Papa (Om Puri), leave India after a restaurant fire kills the mother. Travelling via London they end up in a small village in the south of France. There Papa buys a run-down restaurant and opens up the Mumbai Maison with his son Hassan (Manish Dayal) heading up the kitchen. Hassan has exceptional culinary skills but the family must do battle with a competitor only 100-feet cross the road, a one-Michelin-starred restaurant, run by the frosty Mme Mallory (Helen Mirren).

This sweet feel-good film has a lot of charm and  most of the ingredients for a heart-warming cinema experience. Adapted from a novel by Richard C Morais, it starts with a base of outsiders making their way in a foreign land. Toss in a talented, handsome yet modest young man who hopes to bridge the cultural gap by blending his traditional family-based recipes with those of his adopted country. Add a generous helping of romance in the form of Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon), a sous-chef at Mme Mallory’s establishment and a girl who could steal Hassan’s heart. Throw in a liberal dollop of French snobbery in the form of Mirren’s Mallory, a seemingly-unbending woman who goes to war with her new neighbours. Top it all off with the setting of a quaint French village in glorious countryside. The dish is served with stunningly cinematography and a delicious soundtrack by India’s top composer, A.R. Rahman.

The 100-Foot Journey is thoroughly entertaining, and, as with most foodie films, a mouth-watering delight. But it also covers familiar territory and is at times a tad saccharine and predictable (if you’ve seen the trailer then you’ll know much of the plot, which I felt at times was too superficially handled). Sometimes things feel a little too predictable in the feel-good department and then suddenly sections of unexpected high drama intervene giving an uneven feel to a film which is somewhere between a comedy and drama.

For me there is also a problem with the use of language. Papa speaks a lot of Hindi with his family but none of it is subtitled, even though we get the gist. Mme Mallory speaks predominantly English, and great actress though she is, Mirren has not mastered an authentic accent. Occasionally she speaks French to her staff then reverts to English. For authenticity, I would have far preferred sub-titles for the foreign language segments and more French spoken by Mirren who appears quite fluent or the role given to an English-speaking French woman. This said, Mirren is formidable to watch, especially when she does haughty and seeing her soften is one of the especially enjoyable things in this story. The dynamic between her and Puri’s Papa is nicely handled, while Dayal is an impressive new screen presence as Hassan.  

Although lacking the subtlety of The Lunchbox, this film with its gentle plea for tolerance and compromise is another pleasing hymn to the power of good food.

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