Produced by / Juliet Blake
Steven Spielberg
Oprah Winfrey
Screenplay by / Steven Knight
Based on / The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais
Starring / Helen Mirren
Om Puri
Manish Dayal
Charlotte Le Bon
Music by / A. R. Rahman[1]
Cinematography / Linus Sandgren
Edited by / Andrew Mondshein
Production
company / DreamWorks Pictures
Reliance Entertainment
Participant Media
Image Nation
Amblin Entertainment
Harpo Films
Distributed by / Walt Disney Studios
Motion Pictures
Release dates / August8,2014
Running time / 122 minutes
Country / United States
Language / English
Budget / $22 million
Box office / $88.9 million
The Kadam family ran a restaurant in Mumbai. The second-oldest son, Hassan (Manish Dayal), was being groomed to replace his mother (Juhi Chawla) as the restaurant's main cook. However, a mob attacks and firebombs the restaurant over an election dispute. Papa Kadam (Om Puri) and his family evacuate the guests, but Mama is killed. Seeking asylum in Europe, the family first settles in London, where their residence proves ill-suited for a restaurant. They depart for mainland Europe.
Shortly after entering France, the brakes on Papa's van fail near Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val in the Midi-Pyrénées. Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon), a sous chef at an upscale French restaurant named "Le Saule Pleureur" ("The Weeping Willow"), passes by and offers to help the Kadams find an auto repair shop and a guest house. She brings the Kadams to her apartment and treats them to cold food. Papa is amazed at the quality of the food in the village and its availability and discovers that Marguerite made the food herself.
Papa learns of an abandoned restaurant building available for purchase. It's located directly across the street—only 100 feet—from Le Saule Pleureur. Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren), Le Saule Pleureur's owner, asks the Kadams to leave because it is "private property". Papa buys the property, even though the rest of his family is against it, and names the restaurant "Maison Mumbai".
Mallory comes over to Maison Mumbai to ask for a menu and then buys all the locally available ingredients needed to cook their dishes on opening night. A cold war erupts between Papa and Mallory. The war peaks on Bastille Day when one of Mallory's chefs, Jean-Pierre, and two others vandalize the Kadams' restaurant by spray-painting words which translate to "France for the French" on the outer wall and firebombing the interior. Hassan catches the arsonists in the act and scares them off, but his hands and legs are burned. The following morning Mallory, who knew nothing of the arson and vandalism, dismisses Jean-Pierre and personally cleans the graffiti from Maison Mumbai.
Hassan, having heard from Marguerite that Mallory hires potential chefs by taste-testing an omelette and deciding whether the person is indeed a great chef, asks if he may cook an omelette for her to his recipe. Due to his injured hands, Mallory helps under Hassan's supervision. After tasting the omelette, Mallory recognizes Hassan's potential and invites him to work for her. Papa is initially against the move, but ultimately strikes a deal with her as to Hassan's pay.
Hassan's cooking results in Mallory's restaurant receiving its second Michelin star. The award draws national attention to Hassan's cooking, and he is offered and accepts a job in Paris. Papa and Mallory make amends and begin seeing each other.
Hassan's cooking in Paris quickly receives critical acclaim, fueling speculation of a third Michelin Star for the Paris restaurant, but his work is increasingly bogged down by thoughts of his family and Marguerite (with whom he had an ongoing romance). Hassan returns home and reunites with Marguerite. He invites Marguerite to join him in a business venture—buying a stake in Mallory's restaurant, along with operational control. Hassan believes this will help the restaurant earn its third star. That evening, Hassan and Marguerite prepare dinner at Mallory's restaurant and bring the dishes across the road to the courtyard of Maison Mumbai for all to enjoy.
Critical response
The film has been met with generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 68%, based on 124 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Director Lasse Hallström does lovely work and Helen Mirren is always worth watching, but The Hundred-Foot Journey travels predictable ground already covered by countless feel-good dramedies." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 55 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".Salis Afaque of Salis Magazine gave the film 3 stars.
The Wrap'sAlonso Duralde called the film "a surprisingly bland slumgullion of food porn and emotional manipulation, filtered through the middlebrow sensibilities of director Lasse Hallström."]Variety's Justin Chang called the film "the most soothing brand of cinematic comfort food."Film critic Edwin Arnaudin of the Asheville Citizen-Times gave the film a "B-plus"
1 How do Papa and Madam Mllory fight in a ‘cold war’? find at least one exemple
2 How does Madam Mallory decide if someone is a great chef?
3 Which words describe opinions about the film in the critical response?
4 Give your own opinion about the film