I knew before going in to see “The Hundred-Foot Journey” that I would either get hungry or crave certain foods during and after, because as any foodie knows, you don’t go to a foodie movie unprepared!  WOW was I right about that!

Where do I begin?  The movie comes alive from the start in a bustling market in India, with wonderful colors, characters, and of course food.  It tells the story of the Kadam family, and why they trek all the way from Mumbai and eventually land in a small town in France.  The wonderful Papa of the family, played by Om Puri, falls in love with a beautiful run down building that he envisions as being the perfect place for his family to set up their new restaurant.  All of his three sons and two daughters have unique and sometimes amusing personalities, but it is Hassan, played by Manish Dayal, that you fall head over heels for.  Hassan is the true chef of the five, with a love for his mother’s spices and talent for cooking that gives him passion in the kitchen and in life.

Unfortunately for the Kadam family, they have chosen to build their restaurant across the street from a very well known restaurant that serves French cuisine and is owned and run by the very proud Madame Mallory, played by the lovely Helen Mirren.  The Madame is not pleased that they are moving in and sets about making life as hard for them as possible.  A battle of the restaurants begins, with at first amusing accusations of one another, but eventually leads to someone outside taking it a bit too far.  This changes the relationship between the two owners, making the movie take a turn that you don’t expect.

In the midst of all of this drama and laughter is a love story, that develops slowly but sweetly between Hassan and one of the Madame’s chefs, Marguerite, played by a lovely young woman named Charlotte Le Bon.  She is the most welcoming of Hassan and his passion for food, and fans the flame of his interest in French cuisine.  She actually reminded me of a young French Wynona Ryder through the entire film.

I don’t want to share more than that because I think seeing a movie unfold for yourself is a treasure.  But I will say that there are twists and turns I did not anticipate, and all of them simply make you fall more in love with the characters as they go.  This is a beautiful story, written by Richard C. Morais, that even my ten year old daughter could appreciate.  She applauded at the end!

Our only downfall?  Seeing the movie too late in the day, making it impossible for us to find an open Indian restaurant so that we could devour some delicious food immediately.  And believe me — we tried!  If you see “The Hundred-Foot Journey”, please go before dinner!  You’ll thank me later.