Review of The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014) by Clarisesamuels — 29 Mar 2015

On the surface, this is a lovely, and perhaps, somewhat facile foodie movie, but it has to be seen as much more than that. This film is actually a foodie fairy tale. Like a typical fairy tale, it has a prince, a princess, a king and a queen. (The queen is evil at first but then she turns good.) There is also a palace and a lush fairy-tale landscape in the countryside of France. The plot starts with a warlike battle where there is a senseless death of a loving mother, leaving an indelible mark of grief on a family headed up by a wise king. The tragedy sends the royal family wandering into the wilderness, seeking a Promised Land, which they eventually find in a small French village. And then the royal family finally gets their happy ending after they can settle in and resume the family business, which of course, is an Indian restaurant.

That last part might not sound like your typical fairy tale, but then foodie fairy tales are a genre unto themselves. And like a good fairy tale, underneath the saccharine plot devices there are profound universal truths to be mined and extracted. The Journey of the title is only a hundred feet because the wise, widowed, and elderly king (Om Puri) sets up his Indian eatery directly opposite a house of haute cuisine (one hundred feet away) that specializes in the most exquisite French fare and has earned a royal mark of distinction—a Michelin star. Of course, Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren), as the ambitious queen/restaurant owner, is not satisfied and covets the acquisition of her second Michelin star. Every star is a Holy Grail, and three stars would mean that the food served at such a place is nothing less than a menu for the gods. In the beginning, Madame Mallory regards the new Indian restaurant as a competitor to be roundly defeated and shut down.

But beyond the 100 feet, there is a greater Journey described in this film, as the Indian family leaves their home turf and migrates into uncharted territory, where there are dragons and sea monsters, as well as those uncouth pirates who would wish them harm. The family’s presence in a strange land acts as a catalyst and an irritant, teaching a small town tolerance and acceptance, and introducing a foreign cuisine that eventually becomes a fusion of French and Indian fare. At first the wise king/Indian restaurant owner will not let the prince (Manish Dayal), his adult son and a brilliant chef, work for Madame across the road. The protective father tells the elegant Madame Mallory unequivocally, “French food is French food, and Indian food is Indian food.” And referring to the racist graffiti that she washed off the wall with her own hands, she replies, “Monsieur, I think I just spent the whole morning washing those words off your wall.”.

Appearing a little more subtly than the other plot devices is a Rousseauian back-to-nature philosophy, with a call to eat more carefully and to respect the produce of your local region. In this film, olives are picked from nearby groves, mushrooms are found in the woods, and the milk for the cheese comes from the cows in neighboring fields. After seeing this film, you will shop more selectively for your food, and you will vow to be more creative when you cook dinner the next evening.

As for the saccharine happy ending, such is the stuff of fairy tales.