The Hundred-Foot Journey

About the film

The Hundred-Foot Journey is a 2014 comedy drama film directed by Lasse Hallström and written by Steven Knight, adapted from Richard C. Morais's novel of the same name. Starring Helen Mirren, Om Puri, Manish Dayal, and Charlotte Le Bon, it's about a battle in a French village between two restaurants that are directly across the street from each other: a new Indian restaurant owned by an Indian emigrant family and an established French restaurant with a Michelin star owned by a French woman.

Produced by Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey for DreamWorks Pictures through their respective production companies, Amblin Entertainment and Harpo Films (first relaunch film), in association with Participant Media and Reliance Entertainment, the film was released by Touchstone Pictures on August 8, 2014, and grossed $90.4 million at the worldwide box office.

Plot

The Muslim Konkani Kadam family runs a restaurant in Mumbai. As a child Hassan, the second-oldest, would shop with his mother at the market, where he was adept at picking the highest-quality food. Now a young man, he is in training to replace her as the restaurant's main cook.

When a mob attacks and burns down the restaurant after a disputed election, his mother dies in the fire. Seeking asylum in Europe, the Kadams move to London but, disliking the climate, food, and their house next to Heathrow, they depart for mainland Europe.

Near St. Antonin in the Midi-Pyrénées in France, the Kadams' van's brakes fail. Local woman Marguerite tows them into town. Inviting them into her apartment to deal with the auto repair shop and arrange lodgings for the night, she treats them to a tray of delicious food made with fresh, local ingredients.

Production

Prior to filming, actors Manish Dayal and Charlotte Le Bon spent a considerable amount of time going to restaurants and observing and learning in kitchens. To create the food featured in the film, producer Juliet Blake consulted Indian-born chef Floyd Cardoz, who practiced "fusing together two cultures through cooking."

Principal photography for the film began on September 23, 2013, in Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val, and there was extensive filming at scenic locales in Midi-Pyrénées. It was additionally shot in the village of Carlus. Some scenes were shot in the Cité du Cinéma studio complex, located in Saint-Denis, north of Paris. After nine weeks of shooting in France, the production moved to The Netherlands.

To make Indian actress Juhi Chawla, who plays the wife of Om Puri's character at the start of the film, look 15 years older than her actual age, the filmmakers aged her digitally in post-production using techniques such as visual refactoring.

Soundtrack

A.R. Rahman composed the music for the film. Hollywood Records released a soundtrack on August 12, 2014.

Release

The first trailer for the film was released on May 13, 2014. Its New York premiere was held at the Ziegfeld Theatre on August 4, 2014, and it was released in the United States on August 8. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures distributed The Hundred-Foot Journey globally through its Touchstone Pictures label, except for territories in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where rights were sold by Mister Smith Entertainment to independent distributors. Reliance Entertainment distributed the film in India. In France, the film was released as Les recettes du bonheur (Recipes for Happiness). The film's theatrical release coincided with the viral Ice Bucket Challenge that was occurring in August 2014 to raise awareness for ALS. In response to the challenge, and after being nominated by the film's producer Oprah Winfrey, fellow producer of the film Steven Spielberg recorded a video of himself participating in the challenge, which was uploaded to the film's promotional YouTube channel.

The film was released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on December 2, 2014.

Reception

The Hundred-Foot Journey grossed $10,979,290 in the U.S. on its opening weekend, finishing in 4th place at the box office. It went on to earn $54,240,821 in the U.S. and $36,185,047 internationally for a worldwide box office total of $90,425,868.

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 69% based on reviews from 143 critics, with an average score of 6.2/10; the site's critics 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 weighted average score of 55 out of 100 based on reviews from 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

The Wrap's Alonso 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 it "the most soothing brand of cinematic comfort food." Edwin Arnaudin of the Asheville Citizen-Times gave the film a "B-plus".

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