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• DVD & Streaming

The Hundred-Foot Journey

• Comedy , Drama , Romance

Content Caution

In Theaters

• August 8, 2014
• Helen Mirren as Madame Mallory; Om Puri as Papa; Manish Dayal as Hassan; Charlotte Le Bon as Marguerite; Amit Shah as Mansur; Farzana Dua Elahe as Mahira

Home Release Date

• December 2, 2014
• Lasse Hallström

Distributor

• Walt Disney

Movie Review

Madame Mallory has wished upon a star. A second Michelin star, to be exact.

For 30 years, Madame Mallory’s swanky restaurant has worn its single Michelin star rating as a badge of honor, as well it should. Michelin does not readily dole out its stars. As Madame’s sous chef Marguerite says, one star means the food is good. Two stands for great. “Three is only for the gods.”

The acquisition of those stars requires talent, hard work and single-minded dedication. They do not fall unbidden. And they do not stumble into town along with a pack of loud, uncouth vagabonds. Madame is quite certain of that .

The vagabonds, a certain displaced Indian family—Papa and his grown sons Hassan and Mansur, along with Mansur’s wife and kids—has indeed seen better days. Their restaurant in Mumbai was burned to the ground. Their stay in London was unfruitfully damp. They came to the Continent looking for a fresh start—a chance to open another restaurant and introduce new friends to the spicy, sublime pleasures of Indian cuisine.

France wasn’t initially a contender. They all know that the French have their own food, and it’s said to be pretty good. But when the brakes go out on their dump of a vehicle (just outside Madame Mallory’s village) and Papa stumbles upon a property just perfect for a restaurant (just across the street from Madame Mallory’s fine dining establishment), he sees it as fate. And so, quicker than Madame can crack eggs for a nice hollandaise, she has boisterous new neighbors—and competitors to boot.

Well. For Madame and her perpetual quest for a second star, this new Indian restaurant is the stuff of nightmare. Its garish decor clashes with her refined sensibility. Indian music now blares over her violin-drenched ambiance. The odor of curry and cardamom overwhelm the subtle scents of her kitchen. She launches a cold war before Papa even opens his restaurant—waged through fish and pigeons and formal complaints to the village leaders.

As Papa and Madame battle and bully each other, Hassan humbly cooks his extraordinary Indian food for guests. Then he retreats to his room and combs through French cookbooks, absorbing the secrets of continental cuisine page by page.

Madame has her eyes fixed on a second Michelin star, but searching for it has blinded her to the quiet culinary light across the street.

Positive Elements

As Hassan’s father and his entrenched French rival escalate their gastronomical disagreement, Hassan tries to turn down the flame. He gives Madame a menu as a friendly gesture (which she uses as a guide to stripping the local market of all the ingredients they need). When Papa strikes back by snapping up the pigeons Madame needs for a special dish for a special guest, Hassan cooks one himself and brings it over as a peace offering. (Madame tastes it and throws it in the trash.) And when he and his family are subjected to racist attacks, Hassan doesn’t get angry or vengeful. He’s single-minded, it would seem, on his quest to bring new tastes to light—and his idea that food can bring people together. (Note that the film is flecked with hints of racism for the purpose of showing the trials Papa and his family must suffer through—and to show us how wrongheaded it all is.)

Food does bring Hassan together with Marguerite. Even though she jokes that Hassan’s now “the enemy,” she helps him hone his talents—loaning him books, giving him tips and tasting his creations. Indeed, it’s her kindness that’s partly to blame for Papa staying in town, having helped tow their car and serving them some pretty amazing local food.

Madame herself proves to be a kinder person than we initially see. When Papa’s restaurant is attacked by vandals who set fire to the building and scrawl racist slogans across the front wall, Madame takes steps to literally mend fences. She fires a culprit who works for her (“You are a chef—I do not pay you to burn things”) and trudges out in the rain to scrub the vile slogans off Papa’s wall.

Madame’s actions lead to a thaw in relations, and we eventually come to see that Hassan was only partly right: Yes, food helped bring these two disparate parties together. But it also took good will, trust and respect—a good recipe for us all to follow.

Spiritual Elements

Papa and his family are not presented as being overtly religious, certainly not in a traditional Indian sense. Hassan’s mother hints at the spiritual while teaching him to cook, saying the things he must kill to create the cuisine become ghosts in the stew, as it were. After this matriarch dies, Papa admits that he still talks with her. He believes his late wife wants (in the present tense) to settle down in the French village and buy the for-sale restaurant. “She says brakes break for a reason,” he tells one of his sons, and later gives Hassan his mother’s spices, saying, “She wants you to have it.” He and others briefly talk about praying and/or heaven.

As mentioned, the Michelin stars are several times casually linked to “gods.” When Hassan seeks Marguerite’s “blessing” for a new culinary adventure, Marguerite snaps that she’s not a saint. “Neither am I,” Hassan says.

Sexual Content

Hassan and Marguerite are rivals, friends and sometimes more. Hassan steals a smooch when they hunt for mushrooms. Later, the two share a passionate kiss in the kitchen. Then the two retreat to another room and emerge a bit later looking a little ruffled.

Madame Mallory holds up a limp asparagus spear to illustrate what her restaurant will not put up with: “Food is not an old, tired marriage,” she says. “It is a passionate affair of the heart.”

Violent Content

We see rioters invading Papa’s restaurant in Mumbai, overturning tables and setting the place on fire. Papa’s wife is caught in the blaze, and we see her surrounded by flames. She dies in the inferno.

In France, racist attackers again try to set Papa’s place ablaze, throwing Molotov cocktails into the building. Papa and the rest extinguish the flames, but not before Hassan’s hands are badly burned and his pant leg catches on fire. An out-of-control car nearly crashes. A bicyclist smashes into a truck. Recited lyrics from the French national anthem reference slit throats and blood flowing in the fields.

Crude or Profane Language

One s-word. One “h—.” Several uses of “bloody.” God’s name is misused a handful of times.

Drug and Alcohol Content

Wine and champagne are integral parts of classic French cuisine, and we see most of these characters drink. When Hassan goes to Paris, he seems to drink more than usual—swallowing wine as he cooks and downing what appears to be a beer after hours. (These particular indulgences are intended to make a statement about Hassan growing more distant from his roots and the things he loves.)

Other Negative Elements

Papa is sometimes not treated with the greatest respect. “I am still head of this family!” he reminds his brood. A kitchen porter is bribed.

Food has always been a unifying agent. We bond over bacon, swap stories over sarsaparilla. When I want to talk with someone about business, we do lunch. If my wife and I want to get together with friends we’ve not seen for a while, we invite ’em for dinner. Almost every social experience I can think of, be it the Super Bowl or Thanksgiving, is at least partly about the food.

Food brings us together.

The Hundred-Foot Journey is about a clash of cultures in which the food becomes a metaphor. Madame Mallory is a picture of elegant cuisine, boasting polished presentation and restrained, subtle vitality. Papa is an embodiment of his beloved Indian tastes—full of forceful flavors and boisterous life. Hassan, in melding these two different gastronomical delights, brings disparate cultures closer together. Both are still distinct and unique. But we realize that each has merit and, when blended, can create a taste heretofore unimagined.

The Hundred-Foot Journey , based on the novel of the same name by Richard C. Morais, is a sweet and savory treat of a film with only hints of content-derived sourness—a love story ragoût of romance, family and food. It stresses the importance of all those things, while suggesting that fame and fortune and even Michelin stars aren’t that filling after all.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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“The Hundred-Foot Journey” is a film that demands that you take it seriously. With its feel-good themes of multicultural understanding, it is about Something Important. It even comes with the stamp of approval from titanic tastemakers Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg , who both serve as producers. What more convincing could you possibly need?

There’s something familiar about the treacly and sanctimonious way this film is being packaged. It reeks of late-‘90s/early ‘00s Miramax fare: films with tasteful yet ubiquitous ad campaigns and unabashed Oscar aspirations which suggested that seeing them (and, more importantly, voting for them) would make you a better person. Films like “The Cider House Rules,” “Chocolat” and “The Shipping News.” Films by Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom.

Hallstrom just happens to be the director here, as well, and the similarities to “Chocolat” are inescapable. Stop me if think you’ve heard this one before: A family moves into a quaint but closed-minded French village and shakes things up with an enticing array of culinary delicacies. This new enterprise happens to sit across the street from a conservative and revered building that’s a town treasure. But the food in question isn’t a bon bon this time—rather, the movie is the bon bon itself.

But despite being handsomely crafted, well acted and even sufficiently enjoyable, “The Hundred-Foot Journey” is also conventional and predictable. And for a film that’s all about opening up your senses and sampling spicy, exotic tastes, this comic drama is entirely too safe and even a little bland.

What livens things up, though, is the interplay between Helen Mirren and Om Puri as battling restaurant owners operating across the street from each other—100 feet away from each other, to be exact, a short but fraught trip that various characters take for various reasons. Watching these veteran actors stoop to sabotage each other provides a consistent source of laughs. She’s all sharp angles, piercing looks and biting quips; he’s all round joviality, boisterous blasts and warmhearted optimism. The contrast between the British Oscar-winner and the Indian acting legend offers the only tension in this otherwise soft and gooey dish—that is, until the film goes all soft and gooey, too.

Mirren stars as Madame Mallory, owner of Le Saule Pleurer (The Weeping Willow), an elegant and expensive French restaurant that’s the winner of a prestigious Michelin star. But one star isn’t enough for the coldly driven Mme. Mallory—she wants another, and then another.

But her bloodless quest for gourmet grandeur is interrupted by the arrival across the street of an Indian family: the Kadams, who’ve been wandering around Europe ever since their beloved restaurant back home burned down during political rioting. When the brakes on their car malfunction on a treacherous stretch of spectacular countryside, Papa (Puri) insists it’s a sign from his late wife and decides to open a new eatery in the charming town at the bottom of the hill.

Never mind that one of the most celebrated restaurants in all of France is sitting right across the street from the empty building he rents. Never mind that they are in an insular part of the country where the residents probably don’t even know what Indian cuisine is, much less like it, as his children point out. He has faith in his food—and in his son, Hassan ( Manish Dayal ), a brilliant, young chef.

Just as Papa and Mme. Mallory strike up a sparky rivalry, Hassan enjoys a flirtatious relationship with French sous chef Marguerite ( Charlotte Le Bon , who played an early model and muse in the recent “Yves Saint Laurent” biopic). The script from Steven Wright (who also wrote the far trickier “ Locke ” from earlier this year, as well as “ Dirty Pretty Things ” and “ Eastern Promises ”) is full of such tidy parallels, as well as trite and overly simplistic proclamations about how food inspires memories. Dayal and Le Bon do look lovely together, though, and share a light, enjoyable chemistry.

Then again, it all looks lovely—both the French and Indian dishes as well as the lush, rolling surroundings, which we see through all four seasons; the work of cinematographer Linus Sandgren , who recently shot “American Hustle.” This sweetly pleasing combination of ingredients would have been perfectly suitable if the film didn’t take a wild and needless detour in the third act. That’s when it becomes an even less interesting movie than it already was, in spite of its loftier aspirations.

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Film Credits

The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014)

122 minutes

Helen Mirren as Madam Mallory

Om Puri as Papa

Manish Dayal as Hassan Haji

Charlotte Le Bon as Marguerite

Amit Shah as Mansur

• Lasse Hallström
• Steven Knight
• Richard C. Morais

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The Hundred-Foot Journey

2014, Comedy/Drama, 2h 2m

What to know

Critics Consensus

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. Read critic reviews

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Hassan Kadam (Manish Dayal) is an extraordinarily talented and largely self-taught culinary novice. When he and his family are displaced from their native India and settle in a quaint French village, they decide to open an Indian eatery. However, Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren), the proprietress of an acclaimed restaurant just 100 feet away, strongly objects. War erupts between the two establishments, until Mallory recognizes Kadam's impressive epicurean gifts and takes him under her wing.

Rating: PG (Language|Brief Sensuality|Some Violence|Thematic Elements)

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Original Language: English

Director: Lasse Hallström

Producer: Steven Spielberg , Oprah Winfrey , Juliet Blake

Writer: Steven Knight

Release Date (Theaters): Aug 8, 2014  wide

Release Date (Streaming): Nov 22, 2015

Box Office (Gross USA): $54.2M

Runtime: 2h 2m

Distributor: Walt Disney

Production Co: Amblin Entertainment, Harpo Films

Sound Mix: Datasat, Dolby Digital

Cast & Crew

Helen Mirren

Madame Mallory

Manish Dayal

Hassan Kadam

Charlotte Le Bon

Farzana Dua Elahe

Dillon Mitra

Aria Pandya

Michel Blanc

Clément Sibony

Jean-Pierre

Vincent Elbaz

Juhi Chawla

Alban Aumard

Shuna Lemoine

Mayor's Wife

Antoine Blanquefort

Lasse Hallström

Steven Knight

Screenwriter

Steven Spielberg

Oprah Winfrey

Juliet Blake

Caroline Hewitt

Executive Producer

Carla Gardini

Jonathan King

Linus Sandgren

Cinematographer

Andrew Mondshein

Film Editing

David Gropman

Production Design

A.R. Rahman

Original Music

Pierre-Yves Gayraud

Costume Design

Karen Schulz Gropman

Supervising Art Direction

Alain Guffroy

Art Director

Sabine Delouvrier

Set Decoration

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Critic Reviews for The Hundred-Foot Journey

Audience reviews for the hundred-foot journey.

It's apparently become a running joke now that I end up writing reviews later and later, as it's now 9:24 pm Of course, I also haven't had dinner yet, so it rules to be me, I guess. Anyway, I think it should be known, for the record, that I am an awful cook. Or at least I think I am, since I'm the only one who has eaten my cooking thus far. Sometimes there are moments when I look at a particularly skilled chef working their magic and I think to myself that I wish I could do that. I suppose you might say that I could take classes but, realistically speaking, one is born with that. Might sound like a cliched thing to say, but I feel that it's true in this case. Also, and this might sound ignorant, but I find food criticism to be a bit snobbish. I'm not saying that food critics' opinions are invalid, but it's just a profession that I do not understand. Obviously, there's a stereotype associated with a food critic that might not always reflect the reality, but, as a whole, I don't know what the point is of reviewing food. I suppose you could make the argument that it serves to promote great meals and restaurants, but what's great to one person might be shit to me. The difference between food criticism and, say, film criticism is that, at the very least, you can come to learn to trust someone's opinion on a movie. Maybe your tastes align or whatever, so you can seek them out knowing that the reviewers' thoughts might match your own. You don't necessarily have that in food criticism because, again, it involves literal taste. It's so much easier to enjoy a movie that a critic you followed enjoy than it is to enjoy a meal that a food critic you follow loves. I don't know how to explain this, but it makes perfect sense in my mind. So fuck you and the horse you rode in on. Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that, in part, this film deals with Madam Mallory's restaurant's search for their second Michelin Star. This Michelin Star thing is a bit of a guide book that tells you which restaurants you should visit based on their star rating. There are three stars, one is very good, two is phenomenal and three, well, you are basically one of the greats. Mallory has been eagerly anticipating their second star year after year for 30 years at the time of the film's events. This is where Hassan, his father and the rest of his family come in. They open a restaurant across the street from Mallory's restaurant, hence the title, after leaving India (losing everything they had in a fire, including the matriarch) to start anew in Europe. Their car breaks down in this village and Hassan's father comes across the property that is being sold. Of course, he buys it and they start their own restaurant. A lot of the movie is the obvious culture clash, where the stuffier and uptight Mallory has to deal with the more lively, (sometimes) louder and spicier Indians living 100-feet from her. Naturally, they also feud. Mallory takes a look at her competition's menu and proceeds to buy all the ingredients at the local market just to fuck with them. It's all the typical stuff you would expect. Hassan falls for Marguerite, who works for Mallory's restaurant as a sous chef, I think. Of course, though, not everything is so pleasant. Hassan's arrival with his family ruffles some feathers among the racists in Mallory's kitchen, who proceed (with a group of friends of his) to torch Hassan's family's restaurant. Here's the thing, I get why they did it, but it felt so forced and heavy-handed. For how pleasant the rest of the movie is, this racism shit just didn't really fit in with the rest of the movie. I suppose it was necessary in that this is what brings Mallory close to Hassan and his family. It's what ends their rivalry and allows Mallory to see Hassan as a potential chef for her restaurant instead of her competition. But, to be completely honest, this could have been done in an entirely different way. Racism is still alive and well (and this was a movie released in 2014), but I do not like the way how the movie handled it here. Again, it just doesn't fit thematically with the rest of the movie. Mallory, eventually, hires Hassan to work for her at her restaurant, which puts him at odds with Marguerite since, essentially, they're both 'fighting' for the same position as top chef. Eventually, though, Hassan's excellent cooking gets Mallory's restaurant the second star she's waited for for three decades. This, apparently, is a really big deal as Hassan becomes an overnight sensation. He's getting offers from major restaurants and he proceeds to take one of them. Of course, working in a major restaurant lacks the passion and the love for him that cooking for a 'smaller' place brought to him. Here's the thing, and I don't know if this is an actual thing, but I find this idea of Hassan becoming a celebrity because of his Michelin stars to be a little exaggerated. I mean, I'm certain that there's some fame associated with that, but it's also fame that's known to a very niche group of people. I don't think most people would really care one way or the other honestly. So this idea that Hassan is now a major celebrity because of this was difficult for me to buy. Name me a famous chef that's not Wolfgang Puck and Emeril. Go on, I'll wait. That's not to diminish the work of chefs who have managed to earn these stars, but I don't think one becomes a major celebrity ala, I don't know, Sandra Bullock because of that. Maybe it's just me. But, of course, all of this is set-up so Hassan eventually gets tired of working in a restaurant that has drained his passion and creativity to return to a smaller place where he can feel passionate about what he loves once more. It's basic, simple stuff. I'll be honest, though, I definitely enjoyed this movie. I wasn't a fan of the racist stuff, not because it shouldn't have been done, but just how it felt in contrast to everything else. Hassan's fame was also difficult for me to buy, but this was still an enjoyable enough movie. Helen Mirren is great, as always. And the rest of the cast is really solid all around. The storytelling is definitely predictable, but, again, I think the movie's tone and pacing definitely helped out a lot. The characters are likable and you want to see them do well or well enough given their circumstances. It's not a perfect movie, by any means, but I connected with its message about the importance of family, particularly with what's been going on personally. Again, to me, this is an enjoyable movie. Wouldn't give this a glowing recommendation, but if you come across this on cable TV then it's worth a watch.

I enjoyed this film about a competition between an expensive French restaurant and a bargain-brand Indian restaurant - 100 feet from each other.

Got to admit, got roped into this one. Wasn't one I would have chosen to watch. It is a good movie. The story about the Indian family moving to France and starting up a restaurant is good. Helen Mirren plays a horrible woman who works in a competing restaurant... But she comes nice by the end. There's also a bit of romance thrown in and some beautiful shots of the country, and of course, food. It did feel like an older persons movie, however. (And now I technically am an older person, it even seems too much that way for me). It's a nice movie, is what I mean. There is nothing in there that would offend or displease anyone, and thinking is optional too, although it does have its dramatic moments and a bit of tragedy too.

Not too spicy. Not too bland. Somewhat charming, but nothing special.

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The Hundred-Foot Journey, film review: Fiery performances from Helen Mirren and Om Puri in culinary culture-clash comedy

(pg) lasse hallström, 122 mins starring: helen mirren, om puri, charlotte le bon, manish dayal, article bookmarked.

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The Hundred-Foot Journey is a culinary culture-clash comedy enlivened by fiery performances from Helen Mirren and Om Puri but which, like so many other Lasse Hallström films, slowly turns to gloop the longer it lasts.

Puri is as funny here as he was in East Is East and My Son the Fanatic. He plays the patriarch of an Indian family which has moved to Europe after their restaurant in Mumbai is destroyed in a riot. His wife has died in the fire. The family first set up home in West London but quickly decide that the "vegetables have no soul".

When their rickety old van breaks down in an idyllic village in the south of France, Papa (Puri) decides this is a sign that the family should open an Indian restaurant there. The hitch is that their premises are bang opposite the Michelin-starred restaurant run by the imperious Madame Mallory (Mirren).

It is a pleasure to watch two such accomplished scene-stealers as Mirren and Puri vying with each other on screen. After a while, we even get used to Mirren's 'Allo 'Allo-style French accent.

Papa's son Hassan (Manish Dayal) is a genius in the kitchen who eventually masters French cuisine and falls in love with the beautiful French chef Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon).

Hallström shoots the movie in his usual picture-postcard fashion, throwing in shots of gorgeous French landscapes and plenty of fetishistic close- ups of the food. The charm of the early scenes is undermined by the mushiness and predictability with which the rest of the film unfolds.

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Home > The Hundred-Foot Journey Ending Explained

• The Hundred-Foot Journey Ending Explained
• UPDATED: September 19, 2023

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“The Hundred-Foot Journey” Ending Explained

“The Hundred-Foot Journey” is a heartwarming film that tells the story of Hassan Kadam, a talented young chef from India, who moves to a small village in France with his family. The film explores themes of culture, tradition, and the power of food to bring people together. However, the ending of the movie leaves some viewers with questions and a desire for further explanation.

*Spoiler Alert*

In the final scenes of the film, Hassan’s restaurant, Maison Mumbai, is awarded its second Michelin star. This achievement is a testament to Hassan’s culinary skills and his ability to blend Indian and French cuisine in a unique and innovative way. It also symbolizes his successful integration into the French culinary world.

But what happens next? The film ends with Hassan receiving an offer to work at a prestigious restaurant in Paris. This offer puts him at a crossroads, as he must decide whether to leave his family behind and pursue his dreams or stay with them in their small village.

The ending can be interpreted in different ways depending on one’s perspective. Some viewers believe that Hassan should take the opportunity to work in Paris as it represents a chance for him to further develop his skills and gain recognition on an international level. They argue that this decision would not only benefit Hassan but also his family, as it could lead to greater opportunities for all of them.

On the other hand, there are those who argue that family should always come first and that Hassan should prioritize staying with his loved ones over pursuing his ambitions. They believe that happiness and fulfillment can be found within one’s own community and that success does not always have to be measured by external achievements or accolades.

Ultimately, the ending of “The Hundred-Foot Journey” leaves room for interpretation and encourages viewers to reflect on their own values and priorities. It raises questions about the balance between personal aspirations and familial responsibilities, and challenges us to consider what truly brings us happiness and fulfillment in life.

In conclusion, the ending of “The Hundred-Foot Journey” is open-ended and allows viewers to draw their own conclusions. Whether Hassan chooses to stay with his family or pursue his dreams in Paris, the film reminds us of the importance of cultural exchange, the power of food to unite people, and the significance of finding a balance between personal and familial aspirations.

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The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014)

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A story centered around an Indian family who moves to France and opens a restaurant across the street from a Michelin-starred French restaurant.

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The Hundred-Foot Journey

Dove Review

“The Hundred-Foot Journey” is a movie that soars! It breaks down cultural walls and demonstrates how the spirit of humankind can rise to life’s challenges. The movie is based on the best-selling book by Richard C. Morais, and you know it’s going to be good when the movie introduction includes both Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey. The pair toss food analogies around, including Spielberg’s comment that director Lasse Hallstrom brought all the ingredients together to make a powerful movie. And powerful it is.

The Kadam family suffers a great loss when Indian rebels unhappy with an election go on a burning rampage and destroy their home. The fire takes the mother’s life; this was the woman who taught her son Hassan, a gifted chef, how to cook. Papa (Om Puri) decides to leave India in search of a new future. Their van loses its brakes in France; they survive despite a close call and afterward are given a nice meal by local woman Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon). Sparks fly between Marguerite and Hassan before Papa, despite opposition from some family members, determines to buy a restaurant just 100 feet away from a respected French restaurant. Enter the restaurant’s owner, Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren), who does not cater to the idea at all. She and Papa soon are trying to outdo each other. Marguerite and Hassan form a bond thanks to their desires to be a chef, but the competition between them is fierce.

The movie features an interesting story, romance, excellent performances, and the strong message that, despite cultural differences, people are more alike than they realize. The humor is terrific, too. In one scene, Hassan’s photo appears in a magazine; his father sees the picture of his serious-faced son and says he looks like a terrorist. Another funny moment occurs when Hassan greets a guest to his newly opened restaurant as the French sometimes do, with a kiss on each cheek! When Hassan’s brother learns he is using hay in a recipe, he wants to know, “What’s he doing, cooking for a horse?”

If it is true as one character in the movie states that “food is memories,” then this film, which features several great cooking scenes, will produce wonderful memories for any viewer. The delightful movie “The Hundred-Foot Journey” has earned our Dove “Family-Approved” Seal for ages twelve and above. Forgive us for sharing a food analogy like Spielberg and Oprah did: This is an…mmm…mmm good movie!

Dove Rating Details

Men in India uses torches to burn a town and a family loses their home; it is announced the mother died; a close call when a family's van loses its brakes; men start a fire at a restaurant in France and a man's hands are burned but he is otherwise okay.

Kissing by a couple.

G/OMG-2; For G's sake-1; S-1; Bloody-4; To H with them (said as in "Forget them" when restaurant appraisers take too long to determine if a restaurant will be awarded two stars or not)-1.

Several drinking scenes including the drinking of wine, champagne.

Mild cleavage.

Tension between characters including a father and son as a son wants to tell the father what to do; a woman lies regarding her business but later changes; a "cruel like the gods" comment; a man spits toward a restaurant in anger.

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The Hundred-Foot Journey

The Kadam family leaves India for France where they open a restaurant directly across the road from Madame Mallory's Michelin-starred eatery. The Kadam family leaves India for France where they open a restaurant directly across the road from Madame Mallory's Michelin-starred eatery. The Kadam family leaves India for France where they open a restaurant directly across the road from Madame Mallory's Michelin-starred eatery.

• Lasse Hallström
• Steven Knight
• Richard C. Morais
• Helen Mirren
• Manish Dayal
• 266 User reviews
• 185 Critic reviews
• 55 Metascore
• 2 wins & 4 nominations

• Madame Mallory

• Jean-Pierre

• Mayor's Wife

• Swedish Chef
• Baleine Grise Porter

• Hassan (7 years old)
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• Trivia Om Puri (Papa) was called "Papa" by the cast. He also moved out of the hotel they all stayed in so that he would have a place to cook for them.
• Goofs When Hassan is first making the 5 main French sauces, he is is mixing egg yolks in a bowl and adding oil and something that looks like mustard. He is making mayonnaise, not one of the sauces. Hollandaise, the one sauce out of the five made with yolks, is made in a bowl over steaming water and adding clarified butter.

Madame Mallory : What is this flavor that is fighting against the chicken ?

Hassan : I added some spices for flavor to the sauce, and coriander for garnish and freshness.

Madame Mallory : But why change a recipe that is 200 years old ?

Hassan : Because, madam, maybe 200 years is long enough.

• Connections Featured in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Helen Mirren/James Cameron/Spoon (2014)
• Soundtracks Afreen Music by A.R. Rahman Lyrics by Gulzar Performed by Nakash Aziz , A.R. Rahman and the KM Sufi Ensemble

User reviews 266

• peeedeee-94281
• Oct 20, 2019
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• August 8, 2014 (United States)
• United States
• United Arab Emirates
• Hành Trình Trăm Bước
• Castelnau-de-Lévis, Tarn, France (Lumière, Restaurants)
• Amblin Entertainment
• Dreamworks Pictures
• Harpo Films
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $22,000,000 (estimated)
• $54,240,821
• $10,979,290
• Aug 10, 2014
• $89,514,502

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• Runtime 2 hours 2 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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The Hundred-Foot Journey

Release date: 2016, the hundred-foot journey cast & crew, primary starcast.

• DreamWorks Pictures
• Reliance Entertainment

Release Date

• Steven Spielberg
• Oprah Winfrey
• Juliet Blake
• Charlotte Le Bon ... Marguerite
• Helen Mirren ... Madame Mallory
• Manish Dayal ... Hassan
• Juhi Chawla ... Mama
• Om Puri ... Papa
• Steven Knight

Censor Details:

Censor dates.

• Not Available.

Censor Certificate No

• FF-2011-00001808

Certification

Co-producer.

• Raphael Benoliel
• Lasse Hallstrom

Executive Producer

• Caroline Hewitt
• Carla Gardini

The Hundred-Foot Journey Movie News

Om Puri honoured at the Museum Of The Moving Image

Om Puri's son implored by Steven Spielberg to become an actor

Juhi Chawla unhappy with her role in The Hundred Foot Journey

No French kiss, we are Indian: CBFC objects to kissing scene in The 100 Foot Journey

Juhi Chawla to look 15 years older in The Hundred-Foot Journey

Frequently asked questions.

Q: What is the release date of The Hundred-Foot Journey? A: The release date of The Hundred-Foot Journey is 2016.

Q: Who are the actors in The Hundred-Foot Journey? A: No Data Found..

Q: Who is the director of The Hundred-Foot Journey? A: The Hundred-Foot Journey has been directed by Lasse Hallstrom.

Q: Who is the producer of The Hundred-Foot Journey? A: The Hundred-Foot Journey has been produced by Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, Juliet Blake.

Q: What is Genre of The Hundred-Foot Journey? A: The Hundred-Foot Journey belongs to the genre Drama.

Q: Who is the music director of The Hundred-Foot Journey? A: No Data Found..

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• Cast & Crew

The Hundred-Foot Journey

• 55   Metascore
• 2 hr 2 mins
• Drama, Comedy

The teenage son of an Indian restaurateur finds work with his dad's culinary foe across the street in this delectable drama. With a war between the two eateries brewing, the teen merges French and Indian cuisines with delicious results.

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1:58 The Hundred-Foot Journey (UK Trailer 1)

• 2015 - Golden Globe - Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical - nominated

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Helen Mirren

Madam mallory.

Manish Dayal

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The Hundred-Foot Journey: Papa And Madame Mallory Go To War

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The Hundred-Foot Journey begins when Papa Kadam (Om Puri) loses his wife and family restaurant in a devastating fire. He decides to leave his home in Mumbai and take his family to Europe. While travelling across Europe, Papa Kadam discovers a dilapidated restaurant in the south of France. He decides it will make the perfect venue for the new Kadam family restaurant, Maison Mumbai.

Unfortunately for Papa Kadam, 100 feet across the road is French restaurant Le Saule Pleureur, owned by Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren). Madame Mallory is horrified at the thought of having a traditional Indian restaurant across the road from her Michelin star business. Papa Kadam and Madame Mallory clash and try to sabotage each other.

Fortunately things start to change when Papa Kadam’s son Hassan (Mannish Daval), who is a culinary genius, develops a romantic friendship with Madame Mallory’s sous-chef Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon). Marguerite lends Hassan several French cook books. Hassan quickly masters them and tries to use his new skills to win over Madame Mallory.

When local bigots set fire to Maison Mumbai in an attempt to run Papa Kadam and his family out of town, Madame Mallory is outraged. This is the start of a new friendship with the Kadams.

Restaurants and cooking; bigotry and racism; death of a parent or family member

The Hundred-Foot Journey has some violence. For example:

• Hundreds of people riot on the streets of Mumbai. Rioters run into a restaurant and begin to smash tables and chairs. They set tables on fire and the fire gets out of control, engulfing the entire restaurant in flames. We see the shadowy images of a woman trapped in the burning restaurant and engulfed in flames. Later we hear that the woman was killed.
• A father and his grown son push and shove each other as each tries to wrestle a phone from the other’s grasp.
• In relation to a mob of rioters a man says, ‘They came to slit the throats of our sons and wives’.
• A man makes racist remarks about an Indian family, suggesting that they should be violently treated.
• Several men write racist and derogatory graffiti on the wall of a restaurant. They throw petrol bombs at the restaurant and set it on fire. Burning fuel from the bombs sprays over a man. His hands and lower legs are covered in flames until a second man comes to his rescue and throws a pot of water over him.

Sexual references

The Hundred-Foot Journey has some sexual references. For example:

• In an airport a customs officer asks a young Indian woman if she is going to London for an arranged marriage.
• In a bid to entice people into his restaurant, a man tells a woman to smile to attract customers. This is because she has good teeth. She later smiles at a cyclist riding past, who crashes his bike.
• A news announcer talks about a man being very hot in the kitchen and popular with the ladies.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

The Hundred-Foot Journey shows some use of substances. For example:

• Several scenes show people drinking socially in restaurants.
• A man drinks wine and scotch and seems slightly intoxicated.

Nudity and sexual activity

The Hundred-Foot Journey shows some hugging, romantic dancing and kissing.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in The Hundred-Foot Journey : brand-name mobile phones and Citroen cars.

Coarse language

The Hundred-Foot Journey includes some mild coarse language.

Ideas to discuss with your children

The Hundred-Foot Journey is based on a novel by Richard C. Morais. It’s a romantic comedy about cultural opposites learning to live together. The movie targets an older adolescent and adult audience, and might be particularly interesting to people who like movies about cooking and good food. The movie has a great cast and spectacular views of the French countryside.

The story of The Hundred-Foot Journey is likely to lack interest for younger children. It has themes such as racism, which are more likely to be understood by teenagers. It also has some violent scenes that are quite scary.

These are the main messages from this movie:

• With some compromises, cultural opposites can not only live together but also triumph over obstacles.
• Racism is ugly and unacceptable and should be strongly opposed.
• Home is wherever the family is.