"Food is memories" - I think we all somehow identify ourselves with this statement. Unfortunately, and unlike this quote, this film easily disappear from our memory. It is a drama/comedy with charm, made ​​of emotional moments but fails in the main aspect, really pass through the love for food. The story gives more value to the sentimental family part, than the rest.

A journey through the flavors and colors that transports us from India to France, two countries that are very distant but will become closer not just through food culture, but also through friendship.

In The Hundred-Foot Journey we live the drama of an Indian family, the Kadam family. They are forced to leave their hometown, Mumbai, after an attack on the family restaurant. After this tragedy they decide to immigrate to Europe and eventually they finally stop in the quiet and refined village of Saint Antonin in the south of France where they will open an Indian restaurant. The problem is that it is located right in front of a well known typically French restaurant that already has a Michelin Star.

The film does not find the perfect balance between passion for food and the different situations the characters are dealing with. Although the actors have given good performances, is as if we felt an emptiness in the relationship between them and the food. As if the actors could not really show the true love for food. It seems very forced.

Helen Mirren is wonderful, is simply a charm to see her act. It was the first time I saw the Indian actor Om Puri, and loved his performance as the head of household, very loyal, hard working and very funny, always dedicated to doing the best for his family. The romantic couple in history Manish Dayal and Charlotte Le Bon had good chemistry.

Looks like it is becoming very common, this kind of drama/comedy that revolve around food. Chef, which also came out this year is an example, and is definitely more successful in the aspect that transports us to the world of flavors, and even manages to leave us starving!

The Hundred-Foot Journey is just one of those films that uses the usual clichés but somehow warms our hearts. Apart from that, do not bring anything new.

Om Puri and his family are forced from their home in India by violence and briefly come to London before moving to a rural French community where he discovers a derelict old building situated opposite a Michelin-starred restaurant. Their first visit to the ruin is not auspicious. Their new neighbour "Mme. Mallory" (Dame Helen Mirren) is profoundly disapproving of what she clearly thinks will lower the tone, but he couldn't care less, buys the place and after a refurbishment is ready for opening night. Meantime, his talented and rather dashing son "Hassan" (Manish Dayal) plays a much more diplomatic game and befriends her employee "Marguerite" (Charlotte Le Bon). She lends him a few books on French cuisine and he starts to experiment. The remainder of the story is entirely predictable, but the writers have invested some time in building some likeable characters whilst incorporating some bloody-mindedness, gentle stereotyping and some sentimentality as we see it's not just the cuisines that can fuse effectively. Dame Helen looks like she's having some fun here and has a genuinely engaging rapport with an on-form Puri - their battle of the curmudgeons is quite entertaining and I did pity the poor old mayor (Michel Blanc), even if he did seem to get a great deal of delicious free food. Dayal also brings a bit of charm to his role and the whole film has exactly the same feel-good factor to it as you'd feel after a fine meal with a decent claret.