Chocolat (2000)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Lasse Hallström

Writers (WGA):

Joanne Harris (based on the novel by)
Robert Nelson Jacobs (screenplay)

Release Date:

5 January 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A comic fable from the director of "The Cider House Rules".

Plot:

A woman and her daughter open a chocolate shop in a small French village that shakes up the rigid morality of the community.

Plot Keywords:

Chocolate | France | Lent | 1960s | Church

Awards:

Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 8 wins & 28 nominations

Cast

Juliette Binoche	...	Vianne Rocher
Alfred Molina	...	Comte Paul de Reynaud
Carrie-Anne Moss	...	Caroline Clairmont
Judi Dench	...	Armande Voizin
Antonio Gil	...	Jean-Marc Drou (as Antonio Gil-Martinez)
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
Peter Stormare	...	Serge Muscat
Ron Cook	...	Alphonse Marceau
Aurelien Parent Koenig	...	Luc Clairmont (as Aurèlien Parent Koenig)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for a scene of sensuality and some violence.

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (Certificate No. 37889) | Iceland:L | Malaysia:U | South Korea:12 | USA:TV-14 (TV rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:PG (Canadian Home Video rating) | Chile:14 | Denmark:A | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:6 | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:M18 | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | UK:12

Filming Locations:

Beynac, Dordogne, France

Company:

Miramax Films

Trivia:

Some of the extras used in the movie were from the town.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: In one of the scenes where Vianne is getting the pot of hot chocolate to pour a cup for Armande, you can see in the background there is a heating device where she got the pot from, and it's clearly one from modern times, not the '40s/'50s.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Storyteller: Once upon a time, there was a quiet little village in the French countryside, whose people believed in Tranquilité - Tranquility. If you lived in this village, you understood what was expected of you. You knew your place in the scheme of things. And if you happened to forget...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Conan O'Brien/Don Henley (#26.14)" (2001)

Soundtrack:

Scottish Morvandelle

Very tasty in small amounts but is too slight and obvious to really please

In a quiet little French village morals are upheld and restraint is a virtue. So tongues get wagging when Vianne Rocher opens up a chocolate shop – during Lent of all times. The Comte De Reynaud decides to do all he can to force her out of the village, although her enticing treats start to win over some of the residents even if her standards don't. With the arrival of some river drifters things become harder for Rocher especially as she tries to help some of the villagers who have been trapped behind the walls of respectability.

With heaps of praise for this movie and the cast featuring the promise of the always interesting Johnny Depp, I took the chance to watch this film on television recently hoping for an enjoyable time. I did enjoy it but, aside from the sweet coating the film enjoys the film failed to have anything like a satisfying centre. The plot is fairly standard stuff where Vianne opens up the village to enjoy more about life and free them from restraint – it doesn't have much in the way of surprises or depth to it and it is telling that an advert recently for butter has managed to tell the same story in about 30 seconds. However it is sweetly enjoyable anyway and I did find it to be quite charming in its own way – only really towards the final third does the lack of depth really become exposed and the film doesn't leave any lasting impression other than a general sense of charm.

Depp's involvement is a fine example of this – he is prominent in all the marketing but really he just plays to his looks and his sexy presence without ever adding layers to his character (not his fault, but that of the script). Binoche is better and does try hard to make more of her character than just being all sweetness and light; likewise Moss, Stormare, Dench, Olin and Koenig all try hard to bring out complex characters and dark layers and they nearly succeed but the film seems more interested in being charming and sweet. Molina is very good until the ending forces him down an obvious path but until then he does tend to steal most of his scenes. Depp is very charming and a welcome addition despite representing the failings of the film.

Direction is good and the film is charming but I didn't think this was enough. The plot goes just where you expect it to and asks too much of the audience to be won over by charm with no substance. Don't get me wrong, it is a "nice" film and was enough for me to enjoy in front of a nice coal fire on a cold night but by the end of the film I was left wishing it had managed to do more than just be "nice".