海角大神

'The Hundred-Foot Journey' is predictable but comforting

'Hundred' centers on two restaurants across the street from one another, an Indian eatery headed up by Papa Kadam (Om Puri) and the Michelin-starred French restaurant Le Saule Pleureur, which is overseen by Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren).

Comfort food doesn鈥檛 always have to be food. Sometimes it can be a movie 鈥� especially if it鈥檚 a movie about food. 鈥淭he Hundred-Foot Journey,鈥� adapted by director Lasse Hallstr枚m and screenwriter Steven Knight from Richard Morais鈥檚 2010 bestseller, is, I would imagine, nobody鈥檚 idea of a great film, but it serves up the pleasures of the obvious. You know where this movie is headed every foot of the journey, and that鈥檚 the point, the comfort. If only a few unforeseen byways had been part of the package.

As the film opens, a Mumbai family, headed by patriarch widower Papa Kadam (the unfailingly marvelous Om Puri), flees violent unrest and eventually settles in the Midi-Pyr茅nees region of France. There the decision is made to open a restaurant, the Maison Mumbai, similar to the family-run eatery back home. The biggest obstacle to success: Directly across the street 鈥� yes, 100 feet across 鈥� is the Michelin-starred Le Saule Pleureur, overseen by the widowed Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren at her most tight-faced), who suffers fools not gladly.

When it looks as though the provincial villagers are willing to give spicy Indian cooking a go, Madame sets out to sabotage Maison Mumbai, buying out key ingredients in the local market and hitting up the restaurant with all manner of nuisance lawsuits.

The fun here is that Papa gives as good as he gets. He鈥檚 every bit as stubborn as Madame, which, of course, means that somewhere down the line they will become close. This is the kind of movie in which characters are instantly pegged. Mirren鈥檚 Madame, for example, does not crack a smile once for the first hour of the film. This is a dead giveaway that she will be smiling a lot in the second hour.聽

The soggy center of the film belongs to Papa鈥檚 son Hassan (Manish Dayal), a gifted Indian chef who is entranced with French cuisine, and also with Madame鈥檚 pretty sous-chef Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon). 聽

When Madame, hungry for a second Michelin star, comes around to the unthinkable thought that Hassan just might be her ticket to greater glory, a bit of competitive tension is infused. But not much. Hassan may whip up sumptuous dishes but, as a character, he could do with a lot more spice.

The film touches on the ugly strain of racism in certain sectors of French society, but not enough to turn feel-good into feel-bad. About the most distressing thing that happens in the film is that Madame, before she overcomes her uppityness, rejects Hassan鈥檚 peace offering of pigeon with truffles.聽

Hallstr枚m, who also directed 鈥淐hocolat,鈥� follows the foodie-cinema aesthetic by filming the dishes in a gleaming sumptuousness designed to make you famished.聽(Sidenote: To the eternal question of whether one should see these food movies on an empty stomach or a full one, I turned to a renowned restaurateur of my acquaintance and her answer came back: 鈥淎lways eat dinner afterwards.鈥�)

If these movies continue unabated 鈥� in just the past few months we鈥檝e had 鈥淐hef鈥� and 鈥淟e Chef鈥� 鈥� we may see the return of Smell-O-Vision.聽

I wish the movie weren鈥檛 quite so sappy about the spiritually redemptive powers of fine cuisine. Sometimes a meal is just a meal. Apparently, according to this movie, the secret to making a great French sauce is the love you must 鈥渇ind in your heart.鈥� By this token, all the great chefs of the world must be saintly and super-nice. There鈥檚 also a lot of talk about how 鈥渇ood is memories,鈥� which I suppose is a step up from 鈥淪oylent Green is people,鈥� but hasn鈥檛 anybody connected to this movie ever had indigestion?

And all this love stuff about food contradicts Madame鈥檚 naked ambition in going after yet another Michelin star. Still, speaking as a critic, albeit a movie critic and not a food critic (the difference between the two is diminishing), it鈥檚 nice to feel wanted. Grade: B- (Rated聽PG for thematic elements, some violence, language, and brief sensuality.)