Popcorn and Inspiration: ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’: Making Food, Fighting, Making Up, Making Food

“Journey” is a delightful coming-of-age tale, and a romance. Two, actually. Three—if you consider the romance between food and taste buds.
Mark Jackson
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What is world-class talent? What can it do? The owners of great talent can often slow down time. It’s said that baseball great Ted Williams, when at bat, could see the revolving, individual stitches on an incoming 95-mph fastball pitch.
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“The Hundred-Foot Journey” (2014) opens with a shot of a young Indian boy tasting a black sea urchin. While his eyes don’t actually roll up in the back of his head, his expression lets us know that time has stopped for him, and his world-class senses are talking to ... ghosts? “You cook to make ghosts,” his mother tells him. Nothing brings back memories and ghosts like food.

“Journey” is a delightful coming-of-age tale, and a romance. Two, actually. Three, if you consider the romance between food and taste buds, and the way great chefs are in love with food.
A 5-star dish at high class restaurant Le Saule Pleureur, in "The Hundred Foot Journey." (DreamWorks Pictures)
A 5-star dish at high class restaurant Le Saule Pleureur, in "The Hundred Foot Journey." DreamWorks Pictures

From Frying Pan to Fire

The Kadam family is leaving Mumbai; it’s getting too hot over there politically. Off they go to Europe. England first, but unfortunately they live right under the unabated howling of a Heathrow airport flight path. After one too many shrieking jets, off they go again to France to open an Indian restaurant. Their son Hassan is that young, ecstatic urchin-taster, all grown up and ready to be the family chef.
Papa (Om Puri) showing his family where they will open their restaurant in "The Hundred Foot Journey." (DreamWorks Pictures)
Papa (Om Puri) showing his family where they will open their restaurant in "The Hundred Foot Journey." DreamWorks Pictures

Despite some trouble at the border (“Why are you leaving England?” “I found the vegetables had no soul.”) they find a quaint southern French village and decide to put down roots. And herbs and spices. The village already has a restaurant, but unfortunately it’s a doozie; it’s a Michelin-starred, upper-class-catering establishment, Le Saule Pleureur, overseen by an icy widow named Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren).

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Immediately, the competition revs up. Madame strolls over, ostensibly to say hello, takes a snooty look at their (in her opinion) loud, over-spiced menu, and departs. How come when the Kadam’s head to market to stock up for their restaurant’s opening night—all their key ingredients are sold out? Hmm? Why would that be?

Papa (Om Puri, center) and his son Hassan (Manish Dayal, R) can't find the ingredients they need, in "The Hundred Foot Journey." (DreamWorks Pictures)
Papa (Om Puri, center) and his son Hassan (Manish Dayal, R) can't find the ingredients they need, in "The Hundred Foot Journey." DreamWorks Pictures

Opening night threatens to be disastrous: “Papa, you can’t stand by the gate like in India and drag people inside!” His Western suit failing to make the proper impression, Papa (the hilarious Om Puri) hastens inside and returns wearing his turban and golden kameez. He tells his eldest son, “Smile, son! You have good teeth!”

Papa (Om Puri, standing, R) welcomes guests to his newly opened restaurant, in "The Hundred Foot Journey." (DreamWorks Pictures)
Papa (Om Puri, standing, R) welcomes guests to his newly opened restaurant, in "The Hundred Foot Journey." DreamWorks Pictures
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Cooking and Courtship

Meanwhile, younger son Hassan (Manish Dayal) is meeting Madame Mallory’s Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon), the very pretty sous chef from 100 feet across the way. It’s slightly Romeo and Juliette. They go fishing; he learns the five basic French sauces from a book she loans him. She thinks his skills are incroyable (incredible). But she puts the brakes on the romance because, well, chefs have zero life, and two chefs would have even less life. Anyway, it’s apparent to the audience that in this case, two zeros would equal quite a cute couple.
Chefs Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon) and Hassan (Manish Dayal) go on a date, in "The Hundred Foot Journey." (DreamWorks Pictures)
Chefs Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon) and Hassan (Manish Dayal) go on a date, in "The Hundred Foot Journey." DreamWorks Pictures
Meanwhile, Papa pays Madame back tit-for-tat when he hears that the prime minister coming to town to eat his favorite dish—pigeons. Papa putts off on his moped to town to purchase pigeons. All the pigeons.
Madam Mallory (Helen Mirren) can't find the ingredients she needs, in "The Hundred Foot Journey." (DreamWorks Pictures)
Madam Mallory (Helen Mirren) can't find the ingredients she needs, in "The Hundred Foot Journey." DreamWorks Pictures
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Soon, the food wars escalate to firebombs, a charred Indian restaurant, and Hassan’s burned hands. Seeing the hate-graffiti spray-painted on the enemy’s stone wall, Madame is stricken with guilt and goes to personally scrub it off. The thawing begins. What follows (for Hassan) is the classic Hero’s Journey of going away and coming back again, but to say anything more would spoil the soup.

Papa (Om Puri) and Madam Mallory (Helen Mirren) attempt to bury the hatchet in "The Hundred Foot Journey." (DreamWorks Pictures)
Papa (Om Puri) and Madam Mallory (Helen Mirren) attempt to bury the hatchet in "The Hundred Foot Journey." DreamWorks Pictures

It’s all completely predictable, but so’s “Winnie the Pooh.” It’s human nature to know the story and want to hear it anyway. Granted, we no longer say, “Dad, read me the one about the wolf and Little Red Riding Hood” for the 400th time.

Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon) in "The Hundred Foot Journey." (DreamWorks Pictures)
Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon) in "The Hundred Foot Journey." DreamWorks Pictures
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What can you say about a film like this? Cinematography? How wrong can you go with sumptuous shots of colorful food, er, tastefully arranged? How wrong can you go, shooting in the south of France? Or shooting Helen Mirren? The woman can turn 105 and she'll still be alluring, even when she’s being haughty.

Hassan (Manish Dayal) gets some cooking tips from Madam Mallory (Helen Mirren) in "The Hundred Foot Journey." (DreamWorks Pictures)
Hassan (Manish Dayal) gets some cooking tips from Madam Mallory (Helen Mirren) in "The Hundred Foot Journey." DreamWorks Pictures

The youthful chef/lovers are good-looking and act well. Indian veteran Om Puri is very, very funny, and ever since Apu appeared on “The Simpsons,” the comedic potential of the Indian accent has come to be highly appreciated by Western ears. The same goes for Scottish and Jamaican accents, for Americans; we just like them. We like food too. And good storytelling. It’s the spice of life when storytellers as adept as Lasse Hallstrom (director), Mirren, and Puri tell the story.

Movie poster for "The Hundred Foot Journey." (DreamWorks Pictures)
Movie poster for "The Hundred Foot Journey." DreamWorks Pictures
The Hundred-Foot Journey’ Director: Lasse Hallström Starring: Helen Mirren, Om Puri, Manish Dayal, Charlotte Le Bon MPAA Rating: PG Running time: 2 hours, 2 minutes Release Date: Aug. 8, 2014 3.5 stars out of 5
Mark Jackson
Mark Jackson
Film Critic
Mark Jackson is the chief film critic for the Epoch Times. In addition to film, he enjoys martial arts, motorcycles, rock-climbing, qigong, and human rights activism. Jackson earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Williams College, followed by 20 years' experience as a New York professional actor. He narrated The Epoch Times audiobook "How the Specter of Communism is Ruling Our World," available on iTunes, Audible, and YouTube. Mark is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic.
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