One More Report on The Hundred Foot Journey

If you were following my blog at all this summer you will remember that I was pretty much obsessed with a feature film that was being filmed in the French market town of

 St. Antonin.

The film, The Hundred Foot Journey, is produced by 

Steven Spielberg & Oprah Winfrey & stars

 Helen Mirren.

 Although the filming was winding down in St. Antonin by early October it had moved on to other pretty towns in the area. Before I left France I was able to visit a few of these spots & see just a little more of the production process.

The first location was a beautiful little village with a lovely old mill (above), which would be the site of a picnic scene. The actress Charlotte Le Bon waits with her bicycle for the scene to begin. Oddly enough most French people seemed rather disinterested in the fact that Helen Mirren was there but they were very excited to see this well known French Canadian TV star.

For the entire time of filming in St. Antonin, I was wondering where the actual restaurants, which are the main focus of the film, would be. But it was not until I took a trip to the tiny town of Carlus, just outside of Albi that I had my answer.

The premiss of the film is the conflict between two restaurants, an elegant French three star restaurant  & a loud & garish Indian new comer only a hundred feet away.  The old farmhouse will be the site of the Indian restaurant while the grand sedate French restaurant will be a complete false front. There is one tiny window at the top out of which Helen Mirren, who plays the haughty French chief, will no doubt be looking disdainfully at her unwelcome neighbors.

Because so many of the scenes will be set at night, a large crane is used to hoist heavy lighting. As you can see above this part of the film is being shot in a quiet, remote part of the countryside.

I did not get to see Oprah. It seems she arrived just after I left. I did get to see Helen Mirren several times. One Sunday morning she sat in the café at a table right next to mine. However, my attempts at taking a discreet photo unobserved were a complete failure. So I have borrowed one from Oprah's own Instagram page taken as you can see in front of the farmhouse pictured above.

The Hundred Foot Journey will open in August 2014. I am looking forward to seeing the finished product. It was an exciting experience to be able to follow so closely the production of a film like this. I am hoping that I will be back in France when it opens & that I will be able to see it with all of those that experienced it in a similar way. Because what better place to see this film but in my favorite cinema in the whole world right in St. Antonin Nobel Val.

The Book

I downloaded The Hundred Foot Journey onto my iPad as soon as I could after learning about the film & I finally got around to finishing it this past weekend. It was a quick read, enjoyable, yes. I generally favor nonfiction to fiction so I am not the best of critics. This may explain why I found the plot somewhat weak & implausible, but this of course is just me. I also thought it hard to tell just what genre the novel takes, weather comedy or drama. It is definitely a culinary tale so I guess you could call it a "culinary comedy/drama" as I saw one reviewer refer to it.



My real interest in reading the book was to see how it would translate into a film. It was by the author's own admission written with the idea of a film in mind. Richard Morais wrote his novel as an homage to his late friend Ismail Merchant, the noted film producer & partner in Merchant Ivory Productions. Morais had hoped that his novel would prove to be a joint venture, a tribute to their shared love of cooking & fine dinning. Sadly Merchant's untimely death would prevent that.




The novel delves into the the politics & cutthroat competitive nature of the Michelin star system. It is peppered with culinary tidbits from the tastes & smells of simple country fare to the richest of French haut cuisine. I would have to say that I found the colorful & spicy references to the exotic Indian culinary offerings more enticing than the descriptions of the over the top French indulgences. It will be interesting to see just how all of this talk of food will be recreated onto film.



I am really pretty intrigued to see just how this novel will eventually become a film, especially a film set in southwest France. The first thing that one notices in reading the book is that it is in fact set in the Alps on the boarder of Switzerland & France in the Jura region. St. Antonin is resting in a valley beneath high white cliffs but these cliffs are by no means mountains. So it looks like we will just have to wait & see. If the film makers wanted my opinion I would suggest that the action be reversed. I would begin the film where the novel ended & flash back to the beginning creating to my mind a more climactic
ending. But so far no one has asked me.

Filming in St. Antonin

Just as I was about to write yet another post about the peaceful tranquility of life in France (i.e. not much happening), I got news that there is a film production descending on St. Antonin. Yes, a film staring Helen Mirren & produced by Steven Spielberg & Oprah Winfrey will begin shooting here in mid September.


Unfortunately, I did not receive word in time to sign up to be an extra. Apparently, there was a casting call for 800 extras in August. It went out through the local news papers & the Internet. But I have not been connected to either this summer & so I missed the whole thing. One of my neighbors did sign up however & I am excited to hear about his experience.



The film will be directed by the Swedish director, Lasse Hallström. And from what I understand, the story line is about two restaurants. A well known chef, played by Helen Merrin, falls in love with a small town in France ( St. Antonin?) & decides to open a restaurant. Soon after, an Indian restaurant opens across the road & conflict ensues.


Thus far there is little evidence of this major production that is about to take place. A few storefronts, presumably that will play a role in the film, have been repainted. It seems that the entire town center will be closed durning production & all of the shops & cafés will be compensated for business lost. Facades of buildings will be painted or altered to suit the film & then be returned to their original colors afterwards.


Because there is little to show at this point, I have no photos to share. But I do know that one of the scenes in the film will be of a Sunday market, so I have added photos of yesterday's market. I have no idea of what the general public will be able to see during filming but I will certainly want to take a look & will keep you informed accordingly.


St. Antonin is not new to feature films. The film Charlotte Grey was shot here a number of years ago & many of the towns people were extras in it as well. It was a period piece taking place during WWII. I am told that the film crew built & painted wooden sets to camouflage the more modern aspects of the town where needed.


Charlotte Grey was shot in St. Antonin & in another small town in the Lot region. Then scenes of the two towns were combined to create a fictitious town. This may be what they will do with this film too, as it is being shot in three towns. It will be shot here as well as the larger town of Albi, & the small village of Castenau de Levis just outside of Albi.


As of yet, I have not found any mention of a title for this film. Perhaps it is being kept under wraps or perhaps there simply is not one for now. I will continue to search for new information & certainly share the whole experience with you here.