The Hundred Foot Journey

By Edan Goode:

I love “foodie” movies because, well, they combine two of my favorite things – food and movies. I look forward to such movies the way most people look forward to the big block-busters with space aliens and comic book characters – OMG, I just can’t wait! When I had the opportunity to attend the advance screening of The Hundred Foot Journey, I leapt for it.

When I left the movie Chef, I couldn’t wait to see it again and to tell you, our readers about it, or to take everyone I knew. I assumed I’d feel the same way about this one. I mean, Helen Mirren, south of France, Indian cuisine… Hello, what’s not to like?

Well, I liked the movie but didn’t walk out of it feeling the passion for it I assumed I would. In the days after seeing it, I’ve been mulling over why I’ve felt like the movie lacked heat for me and this is what I’ve decided: it wasn’t quite relatable. Although I like most French food and adore everything I’ve ever had in Indian food, neither cuisine is for amateurs nor for your average home cook. They are for the skilled, the trained, the accomplished. In Chef, they made grilled cheese and Cubano sandwiches, marinated and slow-roasted pork, whipped up a simple but fiery pasta dish. I can do those things. I can relate. But not with the food being cooked in The Hundred Foot Journey. But that might all just be my deal and you might love it through and through.

Watching this movie did make me think of every passionate chef I’ve interviewed who is passionate about food and about their dreams of a bright future. And it makes me think of everyone who learned to cook at their mother’s/grandmother’s/whomever’s side, developing an appreciation for ingredients, flavor, aroma, presentation and the emotions that are evoked. I did love how food, history and culture were honored in the movie (even while being dishonored). It proved, once again, that food can unite people. I firmly believe there would be fewer wars if people sat down over a meal to talk things through.

The Hundred Foot Journey is visually beautiful although the cinematography was dizzying sometimes. Many of the scenes were like an excuisite oil painting, almost too pretty to be true but that’s the South of France for you, and the color of gorgeous Indian spices, too.

One part of the movie really got a hold of me. The lead male, Manish Dayal as Hassan, works his way up to being hired by a super-inventive restaurant, making stunning foods that are more science experiments than a meal. The kitchen is dark, sleek, hard and cold, looking a lot like a lab or morgue where “real” food has gone to die. Hassan is praised and adorned for his inventive ways. But he is left unsatisfied, as are, I’m sure, every diner who just paid $50 for a shiny beet that is really made of tomato foam or some such thing. A few bites of a co-worker’s Indian cooking takes Hassan back to the core of what had made him passionate about cooking in the first place. It’s a beautiful, poignant scene. That transformation from a primal love of cooking into uber-chef made me wonder how many chefs around the world achieve greatness and celebrity but have strayed from what gave them the initial fire to cook.

The movie needs editing. Although it wasn’t long, it felt very long with too many plot points like peaks of meringue on a pie. In some ways the movie is very predictable but because it is acted so well, and is so pretty, you don’t mind. Dayal is the real star of this movie with his eyes like delicious chocolate pudding you could just sink into. Watch the change in those eyes as the movie progresses and his career flourishes. It’s beautifully handled.

It must be noted that Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey produced the movie and Lasse Hallström (Chocolat) directed. While I wasn’t left craving more after seeing The Hundred Foot Journey, I was left feeling full of appreciation for cooking, for what it’s like to run a restaurant and for what it really means to be a chef.

The Hundred Foot Journey opens August 8.