The Hundred-Foot Journey: A Delicious Summer Movie

Lasse Halstrom is a man who directs very soothing, pretty movies. The Hundred-Foot Journey is no exception. Based on a novel by Richard C. Morais, it is a story of rival Indian and French restaurateurs in a picturesque French village and the clash of cuisines and cultures that ensues. It's guaranteed to put a smile on your face and make you very hungry.

The protagonist is Hassan (Manish Dayal), a young man who grew up in Mumbai but had to seek asylum in London with his family when a political riot resulted in the family restaurant being burnt down, killing his mother along with it. His father, known only as "Papa,"  is played by the brilliant Bollywood actor Om Puri, who tends to show up as the patriarch in a lot of these Hollywood-Bollywood collaborations. Disgusted by the English weather, Papa uproots Hassan and his four brothers and sisters for the sunnier climes of France. When Fate delivers them to a restaurant for sale in a beautiful village, Papa decides they have found their calling. Of course, the reason that restaurant is for sale is because it is next door to the only Michelin-starred restaurant around for miles, owned by the decidedly unfriendly Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren). However, Papa forges ahead, determined to teach the local population a thing or two about Indian cuisine.

Hassan's mother taught him to cook and he is an excellent, intuitive chef. He strikes up a friendship with Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon), a sous-chef in Madame Mallory's restaurant, and starts to learn about French cooking. He is determined to convince Madame Mallory that he is just as capable as any of the chefs in her kitchen, while Madame Mallory is just as determined to run this loud Indian family and their curries out of town. The acting prowess of Om Puri and Helen Mirren comes as no surprise, and the two spar beautifully over the course of the movie, while the relative newcomers Manish Dayal and Charlotte Le Bon have a charming chemistry as two chefs who bond over their shared love of food even if they don't share the same culture. If you understand Hindi and/or French, you might also experience a frisson of delight as you pick up on occasional throwaway lines in those languages, as nothing is subtitled. The Englishness of the movie is a bit bizarre - for example, there's no reason a French chef would have to translate the lyrics of La Marseillaise to English for his colleagues - but that's Hollywood for you.

Like with all Lasse Halstrom movies, there are critics who will argue it is too treacly or pristine. Although the movie does expose the ugly underbelly of racial prejudice and French nationalism in this beautiful village, it's all dealt with rather deftly, and after one big episode, everyone is happy to just get along. But this is only meant to be a light piece of cinematic fiction in the middle of August and not a gritty Oscar biopic about race relations. As far as I'm concerned, writer Steven Knight has scripted a perfectly-paced movie that is sweet without becoming overly sentimental, funny without being farcical, and dramatic without tipping into melodrama. It is a "Goldilocks" movie, never veering too far in any one direction and buoyed by fantastic performances from the four leads. It's a palate-cleanser that will make your summer much brighter and I heartily recommend it.