Hundred Foot Journey: Worth the journey

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After a series of "disasters" that I saw back to back, finally could get to catch up on a nice little sweet movie. The Hundred Foot Journey. Set in the beautiful French village (south of France) Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val and extensively photographed in Midi Pyrenees, the film is a delight for culinary lovers and especially fusion food. It brings together the classical (Helen Mirren's character Madame Mallory at one point mentions classical comes from the word, Class) French cuisine in clash with the more louder and rustic Indian cuisine, steeped in spices and color. Madame Mallory, metaphorically at one point feels the loudness of the music and the cuisine (read Indian) needs to be toned to suit the French palette better. And this is where the film scores, it does not get prejudiced at any point with the cultural stigmas of either cultures. Director, Lasse Hallstrom prefers to leave it to the viewers discretion.

The pace is delightfully timed and one though wished the build up to the climax could have been more spaced out. One would logically be drawn to conclusions after about 90 minutes into the film. Hence, screenplay to me seemed a major concern, throughout. Yet, it makes up with some brilliant acting, Helen Mirren leads from the front (watch her after she puts the receiver down on receiving news of her 2 star Michelin status, pure class), followed by the beautiful Charlotte Le Bon and Manish Dayal. Surprisingly, Om Puri's role was a tad clichéd and he has been now been doing similar genre for some time (East is East), yet he impresses in parts. Especially, during moments of his conversations with his wife. Juhi Chawla has a cameo, but wasted and the character never really evolves, especially with so much of referencing being done to her and her legacy through the film. Her digitally touched up ageing is in bad light. There are several such moments through the film, we wished to have stayed on with us for some more time. Manish Dayal's character (Hasan Kadam) growing up years. The moments where Madame Mallory spends time with her staff at the kitchen, the moments spend in shopping at the local vegetable market. But, the delightfully captured moments of culinary shots, the food, vegetables and the classic sea urchins being captured into a gravy all make up for such moments lost.  

The film does impress one with the the two warring restaurants facing each other, almost like a face-off. Yet the landscape (the oh! so beautiful South of France) seems to be acting as a balm to the moments of despair, war, hatred or even when the leads fall for each other. Music stands out and there are many a clichés here and there, yet loved the Silsila soundtrack in a typical French setting.

The movie is a must see and especially with a deluge of trash being spitted out, all around, this is a Hundred Foot Journey, worth all the effort.

  

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