Like a French bouillabaisse or an Indian Keralite both are dishes
that take time and they can be 5 star or comfort food. “The Hundred Foot
Journey” is more of the latter than the former with a cast that would
earn the Michelin top 3 stars while the story line by Steven Knight,
based on a novel by Richard C. Morais, would probably not earn any.

Helen Mirren, as Madame Mallory, a widow, owns a top old school
French restaurant, and is always a joy to watch whether being haughty,
fighting dirty or breaking into a beautiful smile. Om Puri, as Papa, and
the father of 5 children, who leaves India after the death of his wife
in a fire and, because of circumstances, opens an Indian restaurant 100
feet across from the French restaurant. They declare war on each other
and, with that, if you don’t know where their relationship is heading
you are new to movies. Though Puri is more or less scowling at Mirren
during the first half of the movie, and is sometimes hard to understand,
when he smiles, whether it be at his children or, eventually at Madame
Mallory, he holds his own in every scene with Mirren.

Madame Mallory’s sous chef, Marguerite, played by Charlotte Le Bon,
starts a flirtation with Papa’s son Hasson Kadam, played by Manish
Dayal, a yet to be discovered top chef, at one point is in competition
with Marguerite and, once again, if you don’t know where this is leading
it can only be because you haven’t been to too many movies. Le Bon is
pretty with doe eyes and Dayal is handsome and they have just enough
chemistry to make it believable that they could be a couple. The rest of
the cast consisting mainly of Papa’s four other children, Madame
Mallory’s kitchen staff, the mayor and his wife, fill their roles with
only a couple adding ‘spice’ in scenes.

Talking about two restaurants, chefs and spice there is no way you
can discuss “The Hundred Foot Journey” without discussing the dishes
and, how they are made, concentrating from beginning to end on just a
few. If all the scenes on/of food looked like the omelet Hasson makes,
with help from Madame Mallory due to circumstances, you might have left
the theatre hungry but not many are that good. By the way the Madame
does something with pan and omelet that I had never seen before. Oh yes,
you may want to try a sea urchin--see the movie!

Director Lasse Hallstrom, and the director of photography Linus
Sandgren, show off the French village of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val in all
its lush greenery.

Due to the fact that it takes too long--they could have cut the Paris
segment--and that no way would the portions satisfy Americans as in
France, and better restaurants, it is the presentation of the food and
not the quantity, “The Hundred Foot Journey” is more comfort food than
fine dining.