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Chocolat
2000 Comedy / Drama / Romance
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Credits
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Director: Lasse Hallström
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Script: Robert Nelson Jacobs, based on the novel by Joanne Harris
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Photo: Roger Pratt
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Music: Rachel Portman
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Cast: Juliette Binoche (Vianne Rocher),
Alfred Molina (Comte Paul de Reynaud),
Carrie-Anne Moss (Caroline Clairmont),
Judi Dench (Armande Voizin),
Antonio Gil-Martinez (Jean-Marc Drou),
Hélène Cardona (Francoise Drou),
Johnny Depp (Roux),
Hugh O'Conor (Pere Henri),
Harrison Pratt (Dedou Drou),
Gaelan Connell (Didi Drou),
Lena Olin (Josephine Muscat),
Elisabeth Commelin (Yvette Marceau),
Victoire Thivisol (Anouk Rocher),
John Wood (Guillaume Blerot),
Leslie Caron (Madame Audel),
Michèle Gleizer (Madame Rivet)
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Country: UK / USA
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Language: English / French
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Runtime: 121 min
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Summary
The tranquillity of a small French village is disturbed by the arrival of a strange young
woman, Vianne Rocher, and her illegitimate daughter, Anouk. To the horror of the
Count de Reynard, the town’s ultra-conservative, ultra-Catholic mayor, Vianne opens
a chocolate shop and starts to entice the townsfolk with her spicy chocolate nipples –
and this at the start of Lent. Vianne’s reputation as a bad influence is furthered
when she shows sympathy for a group of river gypsies, led by an Irish musician named Roux.
Despite the best efforts of the Count, Vianne’s business thrives, and she helps
to transform the lives of a battered housewife and an estranged elderly grandmother.
When the Count’s crusade to drive her out of town gets personal, Vianne decides
it is perhaps time to move on...
Review
For all its all sugary charm, attractive cast and glossy production values, Chocolat
somehow fails to live up to its promise, and it is really little more than a half-hearted
attempt to give a second rate novel the full art house treatment. The film’s
seductive appeal – which stems from its pretty photography and some pleasing acting
performances (mainly from the supporting cast) – is undermined by a contrived plot
which switches awkwardly between social realism, romance, melodrama and comic fantasy.
Chocolat is too saccharine, too light weight
and too multi-flavoured for its own good.
Hollywood perennial Johnny Depp looks like a rather obvious production imposition.
He appears to be painfully out of place, and with his phony Irish accent (actually, all
the accents in this film are a bit dubious), he robs the film of whatever art house pretensions
the film may have been seeking. His on-screen rapport with Juliette Binoche (who,
it must be said, is not at her best) has little in the way of credibility or significance.
Fortunately, not all of the casting decisions are so bad. Judy Dench puts in a sympathetic
performance, but her role (a crotchety old woman with a taste for chocolate) doesn’t
put too great a demand on her talents. Likewise, Victoire Thivisol (star of
Jacques Doillon’s Ponnette) fails to shine, thanks largely to the crass idiot child
dialogue she is given. The only actor who manages to shine in this film is Alfred
Molina, whose solid portrayal of a bigoted aristocrat manages to be convincing, comical
and, ultimately, rather poignant.
In spite of its faults, Chocolat
is a sufficiently unusual work that it manages to maintain the spectator’s
interest, having something of the dark seductive appeal of an over-priced box of snob
confectionary. Unfortunately, its artistic sheen starts to wear thin way before
the film ends, and whilst it may be a tasty morsel, it fails to be an entirely satisfying
indulgence. You expect Godiva, but what
you get is Milk Tray.
© James Travers 2004
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