There have been a lot of good food-based movies lately, Chef, The Trip to Italy, and The Lunch Box. Consequently when I first saw the trailer for this movie I was intrigued but had some hesitation. Did we need another food-based movie? Would I be able get over hearing Helen Mirren speaking French? Would it be as good as The Lunch Box? Thankfully it was equally good and very surprising in how it left you feeling.
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The Hundred-Foot Journey is a story about a young cook, Haasan Kadam (Manish Dayal) who longs to be a chef. His cooking education didn’t come through a college, time spent as a waiter or university, he was taught by his mother. The importance of spices and the memories they make were handed down to him wrapped in love. In India the family operated a thriving food market, but after a tragedy in their homeland, they moved to London and then to Paris, why Paris?
‘The vegetables in London had no soul,’ explained the father, Papa (Om Puri).
When their van breaks down on the outskirts of Saint-Antonin-Nobel-Van in the south of France, their fate is sealed. And so begins the premise that maybe ‘brakes break down for a reason’.
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| ©2014 DREAMWORKS II DISTRIBUTION CO. LLC |
When Papa decides to set up a restaurant, Maison Mumbai, to introduce the locals to Indian cuisine, his children think him insane. So too their neighbour Madam Mallory (Helen Mirren) who operates the Michelin-star awarded French restaurant Le Saule Pleurer, over the road … 100 feet away. The collision course is set, how will these two cultures get on, who will win?
‘I loved the juxtaposition of this very proper French restaurant opposite this lively, colourful Indian restaurant. One plays Mozart the other, loud Bollywood music, so you have a culture clash of epic proportions,’ explained producer Juliet Blake.
Throughout the movie the 100 foot journey is made many times, as the Kadam family and Madam Mallory battle for supremacy, each slowly beginning to step out of their comfort zone.
The movie touches on the themes of family, love, memories, multicultural differences, acceptance, the quest for self-discovery, and what happens when success arrives, is it enough?
‘I fell in love with the story and its wonderful landscape with the notion of how food brings people together at its heart,’ continued Blake.
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| ©2014 DREAMWORKS II DISTRIBUTION CO. LLC |
‘We had a chance to put our creative energies together in a vey compatible way to tell this story about compatibility amongst people you never imagined could be compatible,’ added producer Stephen Spielberg.
‘It was a little gem of a novel and a piece of art that actually does and says what I’ve tried to say in my work and art throughout my career. It’s an incredibly uplifting story,’ said Oprah Winfrey the third producer of the movie.
The marketer in me loved Papa’s ingenious approach to ‘pulling’ in their very first customers. Any restaurateurs will love seeing this strategy, though I doubt they’d consider adding it to own their repertoire.
There were many wonderful phrases in the movie which had the audience laughing out loud, such as the explanation of why it’s okay to ask for a discount, even in Paris. You’ll have to go to find out why.
All of the actors put in highly believable performances. I was soon lost in Manish Dayal’s dark eyes, Om Puri’s playfulness and Helen Mirren’s crisp demeanour.
The scenery was as you would expect, spectacular. The sound track, particularly the Indian sections, added further atmospheric depth. And then there was the food, ah the food. The slow close ups made even a cracked egg look balletic, as the yolk fell from the shell. While the food could have easily overtaken the movie it didn’t.
The movie was a great balance of superb locations, great acting, good music, and stomach rumbling food, all wrapped up in a delicious calm coating, that left you walking out feeling peaceful, content, and ravenously hungry if you’d skipped dinner.
When pondering about the film I thought:
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We’ve seen wonderful dishes presented in a number of movies lately, so I wasn’t expecting anything new, but I was wrong. The up-close angles made you feel right in the action.
- The ‘knife off’ scene was hilarious and I pondered whether this happens in restaurants.
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The moments without words added to the sense of calm and stillness.
- If only all multicultural differences could be solved with food.
There’s a great quote in the movie that says …
‘A hundred foot journey begins in that moment when you bravely drop what is familiar and cross over into a new realm that is far out of your comfort zone. It is a profound journey, however small in physical distance, that materially changes the course of your life for the better.’ Richard C Morais.
Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEO1TWeM5JU
The Hundred-Foot Journey is such a charming, uplifting movie, I look forward to seeing this one again. Hope you get to see it soon, just remember to eat beforehand.
Now showing at, well, in lots of cinemas.
DreamWorks studios
2 Comments
This is now a must for me having viewed your previous recommendations.
Seems we are getting a continual stream of good movies.
I know. It’s really hard to keep up with them all at the moment. Hope you got to see this movie and liked it. Thanks heaps for commenting