Chocolat

Rating:
Summary: A sweet film, no pun intended (wink!)
Review: The movie starts off in the winter of 1959, at the quiet and tranquil French village, where the inhabitants live there lives as quietly as possible. Until one day, driven by fate and a strange wind, Vianne (Juliette Binoche) and her duaghter Anouk (Victoire Thivisol) arrive in town. The villagers are rightly very curious about the strangers but when Vianne opens a chocolatier, the town's mayor (Alfred Molina) warns off the people against the 'evil'. But even when giving out warnings and instilling a fear for such temptations, the mayor cannot stop the villagers' attraction to not only the chocolatier but the outwardly friendly and irresistable Vianne. Vianne little by little shows the villagers what it means to not only enjoy life, but live it.

"Chocolate" has gotten a total of 5 Oscar nominations: Best Picture (David Brown, Kit Golden, Leslie Holleran), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Juliette Binoche), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Judi Dench), Best Music Original Score (Rachel Portman), and Best Writing (Robert Nelson Jacobs).

First off I must say that the acting done by such an all-star cast is superbly done. Notably Juliette Binoche, with her beauty and charming accnet, is vibrant in her role as the woman Vianne who can't help but be different from everyone else. Alfred Molina also handles his character with what seems like the greatest of ease. Sort of the bad guy in the movie, but can't help loving him by the end of the movie. There's Judi Dench as a elderly woman made an outcast by her own daughter (played by Carrie-Ann Moss you won't believe as the same Trinity we know and love!). There's also Lena Olin who acts out her character of a battered wife to perfection, Leslie Caron in a role you can hardly recognize, and the young priest played by Hugh O'Conor (there's one scene where he sings and dances to "Hound Dog" which is very cute!). And of course I mustn't forget Johnny Depp as Roux, the Irish gypsy who falls for Vianne. Unfortunately he had a very small role in the film but was an adorable match for Juliette Binoche. Of course he could have worked on his accent a bit since it comes and goes often.

As for the movie itself, the plot is nothing too complicated or too original. In fact, some like me might find many similarities to the Disney movie "Pollyana". There's an outcast who ultimately though reaches to each and everyone in the town. There's a kind of 'bad guy' who chooses what kind of sermons will be preached.

The reason for my 3 stars is because I thought that besides the marvelous acting, the movie itself felt a bit slow and nothing remarkable. And most of all, whoever decided to categorize this movie as a romantic/comedy must have not really read the script. The romance is more like a subplot and "Chocolat" is more like a drama than a comedy. Sure, there are a few moments where you can chuckle or even laugh a bit. But no a laugh-out loud movie at all.

So in conclustion, "Chocolat" is a sweet movie which flows along at an even pace. A film to watch when you have a few hours to spare where you don't have to concentrate that much. Oh, and a bit of trivia. Johnny Depp plays guitar in this movie in three scenes, and also does on one song on the soundtrack.

Rating:
Summary: Too cute! But why all the Oscar talk?
Review: I love little French villages; I think they're adorable. I also am dangerously addicted to chocolate and in love with Johnny Depp. So you can see why it's no surprise that I loved 'Chocolat', although I'm not quite sure why everyone else did...
The Catholic Church is celebrating the season of lent when wandering single mother, Vianne (Juliet Binoche) and her illegitimate daughter move into a small, strictly religious town in France and horrify the town's people by opening a chocolate shop which severely tempts even the strictest Christians out of fasting.
The mayor (flawlessly portrayed by Alfed Molina) doubts that the shop will last; however, Vianne and her chocolate successfully tempt many a church-going resident and the shop remains open with help from Lena Olin's character Josephine, a kleptomaniac with minimal social skills and an abusive husband.
The mayor and Vianne wage war on each other, each convinced the other one's way of thinking is, in short, at the route of all evil. Their battle for influence over the town turns vicious when Vianne befriends a pack of pirate-like "river rats" who show up in the village prompting the priest to call Vianne "Satan's helper" in a homily Molina's character wrote.
'Chocolat' is built largely on subplots and metaphors, but unlike most similar movies, is somehow pleasantly simple, which you begin to understand is the idea.
The concept is sweet but greatly dependant on good performances by superb actors, which is has thanks to Alfred Molina, Johnny Depp and Judi Dench.
To me, 'Chocolat' was like a relaxing ride down a slow-moving river. However, while I was perfectly content to lust after the leading man, wish I lived in France and plan to buy a box of chocolate as soon as the credits started rolling, it surprised me that anyone else agreed.
It seemed to me that 'Chocolat' would lack something as far as critics were concerned, and I was confused when it was nominated for five Academy Awards.
As you can see, I loved the film. However, I'm not so sure that it's as good as its reputation makes it sound. In other words: don't get your hopes up, you'll enjoy it more if you just watch.

Rating:
Summary: Straw man knocked down successfully
Review: There are several things this film does right. The acting and the writing of the dialogue are just fine, as is the pacing. I don't have the problem that others who have reviewed here have with the pretentious/smug way in which the lead character sets out to fix other people's lives. Everyone can relate to the idea of a non-conformist feeling alienated. I have a small issue with the way the film recycles plots of other films without credit (Chocolat = Mary Poppins + Pleasantville + Like Water For Chocolate). The big problem I have with the film is...The entire concept of the film!

Chocolat is a liberal fantasy film that perpetuates the myth that no one in the world had any fun until the liberals showed up. Conservatives are depicted as evil or stupid or innocently mislead (because they didn't know better). It never occurs to anyone having anything to do with the movie that people might want to embrace the Catholic faith as written *because they want to*. The only morality embraced in the film is, "If it feels good, do it." That is certainly a point of view, while it might be a particularly childish one, but to state that anyone who doesn't agree with that view and live his life by it is a hate-filled, wife-beating, sociopathic arsonist waiting to happen is skipping a few logical steps, to put it mildly.

The blatant anti-Catholicism of the film is astonishing and reaches a pitch that is sickening. This is one of the only permissible prejudices allowed in today's PC society. Just try to imagine this movie if it were done any of the following ways:

-- Lead character sets up a chocolate shop in a community of fasting Buddhist monks, and berates them for not giving in to human temptation.

-- Lead character sets up a Peter Luger's steakhouse in a community of vegans. Mmm, if you don't want this juicy porterhouse, you must be irrationally repressed, aren't you?

-- Lead character sets up a McDonald's and a Starbucks in an African village, and the anti-globalization folks "write the sermons" denouncing the temptation and disruption to the villagers' way of life that should be respected and preserved.

None of those movies could ever have been made. But in this movie, the climax of the film (that is supposed to be joyous to us) is a pagan festival celebrated on Easter Sunday. It never occurs to the makers of the film that Easter Sunday might be something worth celebrating on its own merits--or that a Catholic is as worthy of respect as anyone else.

The film sets up a strawman--Catholics/conservatives are bad, repressed people waiting to be saved from their own ignorance, and one shouldn't be a bad, repressed person--and then knocks it down. Hooray for it. Anyone who is in favor of being bad and repressed should certainly sit up and take notice.... Anyone who has already learned this valuable life lesson can feel free to move on to view other films.

Rating:
Summary: Scrumptious!!!
Review: This is not the type of movie I usually like, but I have to say that I was just pulled in by it. It gave me something to smile about, with it's colorful characters, and don't forget the Chocolat!!! Juliette Binoche was the perfect choice for the role of Vianne, and of course Johnny Depp plays his sexy river rat role, to a T. Judy Dench as Armonde, is just the perfect touch as the former wild child growing old...and still wild at heart.
If you want to see a movie that leaves you feeling good, see this one!

Rating:
Summary: The count devours his chocolates
Review: the count devours his chocolates

Just like her mother, a young woman doesn't stay too long in one place. She goes where the north wind leads her, until she ends up in Lansquenet. There she shocks the priest and the most powerful man in the village. She opens a pastry shop, to sell chocolate desserts in the middle of Lent!

One of my two favorite parts in the film CHOCOLAT, based on the book by Joanne Harris, is the party scene. The villagers have already broken with one tradition by eating, instead of giving up, chocolate. They break another by partying with the river rats who go up and down working where, and selling what, they can.

The other is the shot of a great tree. The ground around it has been disturbed. Without land, but surrounded by air, light and water, the tree doesn't die. Does this symbolize what Vianne's chocolates do for the villagers? Without the usually tightened belt and diet of Lent, Vianne's customers don't shrivel up either.

It's always good to see the multi-talented Johnny Depp and to find Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin together again. Here the two reverse the personality types that they played so well in "The unbearable lightness of being." Both actresses would do wonders with GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING by Tracy Chevalier and GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE by Susan Vreeland if either book makes it into film one of these days.

Rating:
Summary: A Movie Simply to Get Into
Review: I love chocolate. It's sweet and sensual. The movie details the effects of chocolate and what it does to the townspeople. Vianne, part Latino and part French, moves northward to a village and opens a chocolate shop. She welcomes the battered wife of a local, a elderly diabetic woman who's not afraid to exhibit herself, and a man who tries her chocolate and gets kinky with his wife. She arouses people's suspicions and inhibitions with her creations but she also runs from one place to another not letting go of her mother's ashes. Vianne falls in love with river rat Roux.
I loved this movie. It was easy to indulge and relax in as themes of chocolate and passion echo into my mind. Johnny Depp still looks good after "21 Jump Street".

Rating:
Summary: A light, touching film.
Review: A far-fetched story is grounded by superior acting and emotion in this charming film. Johnny Depp was surprisingly good in this type of role, and Juliette Binoche makes her big movie debut a great one. I wouldn't reccommend it to wrestling fans, but anyone who can appreciate a sentimental story with light, airy humor will enjoy it!

Rating:
Summary: an excellent movie
Review: I really love this movie. It is something entirely different than most of the movies being made today. The story is quite captivating, and the actors do a very good job.

Rating:
Summary: CHOCOLATE RECIPE BY TIMOTHY LEARY
Review: This movie was a turn off to me maybe because it's a bit artsy and pretentious. I can imagine the target audience sitting captivated, sipping chardonnay between nibbles of brie cheese. Maybe it's because I can't stand anything French. It has little to do with the most recent example of French back-stabbing and cowardice. Juliette Binoche is attractive enough until she speaks - then that accent floods my ears and ruins everything. Binoche's character is a sort of svengali posing as a free-spirited (amoral) chocolatier with no apparent respect for Christian precepts. Visiting with her and partaking of her special chocolate immediately opens the minds of the horribly repressed (read that as moral) villagers. I soon knew I'd made a mistake because the idea of anything French unlocking my inner id is unimaginable. But I tried, oh how I tried. But after watching an hour and consuming a box of Godiva chocolates to get in the mood, the only "awakening" I experienced was a severe bellyache. To achieve more credibility Binoche should have been replaced with an old crone drenched in a heavily sedimented Cabernet', complete with dirty teeth clenching the ever-present unfiltered cigarette. Now that's the ticket and that's the France I recognize!

Rating:
Summary: Ex-Lax in a chocolat wrapper
Review: I'd like to start by declaring that I did not watch this movie by choice. I was keeping my end of a movie-watching deal I'd made, though I didn't know at the outset that Chocolat would be the heinous abortion I would endure. The goal of the director/writer/Kevorkianist was quite obviously to ridicule any religious belief in God. The only religious questions he led me to ask is if any sin capable of mankind is worthy of a God-sent punishment as painful and abominative as the movie Chocolat. Dante would agree that not even the traitors in the ninth ring of hell deserve to have this "movie" forced upon them.

The movie opens up in some post-WW2 French villiage. Some drifting chocolate vender and her illigitimate girl come wandering into town, perfectly dressed, and pull money out of the sky to open their own store. She has no supplies when she arrives in town, but in no time at all she has a full chocolate store up and running. I guess the Mayan chocolate gods she worships provided the logistics.

Next, it's made quite clear from the outset that the townspeople are all brainwashed zombies with no independent thought whatsoever, trapped in a Christian morality that forbids (among unmentioned crimes like murder and theft) the eating of chocolate during Lent. The mayor of the town is portrayed as an Inquisition-era feudal lord who's iron grip over the minds of his subjects is made all the easier to uphold, given their sheep-like mentality. This mayor's resposibility in the film is not to administer the town, make sure food, water, and electricity keep flowing, make sure public services are provided, enforce laws, collect taxes, promote democracy.....no, not at all. This mayor's ONLY responsibility in the film is to force people into church and keep them from eating chocolate during Lent.

The first ten minutes of the movie reveals exactly what is going to happen throughout the rest. The rebellios, free-thinking chocolate vendor challenges only the religious norms that today would be considered far-fetched, such as not eating chocolate. Pesky speedbumps like "Thou shall not kill" will have to be challenged years more down the road, but for right now it is safe to attack other norms.

The townspeople, one by one, find all their life's problems cured by Vivian's magic chocolate, whether it be spousal abuse or sexual impotency. The movie shows Vivian repeatedly giving loads of her product away for free, without ever actually selling much of it, which kind of goes against the whole "profit=sustainablilty" economic tidbit, but since this movie didn't have much to do with reality to begin with, I let it slide.

Every single person Vivian gives chocolate to sees their life do a complete 180. The evil furher/mayor sees what is happening, and picks a drunken loser from town to rehabilitate. Of course, the ONE case belonging to the mayor fails miserably, just to further convey to the audience that only Mayan chocolate can change fortunes, and that religious convictions will only lead you to drink heavily, beat your wife, break into and trash chocolate shops at 3AM, and set fire to river-bound vessels of homeless river trash.

Johnny Depp is supposed to be the leader of the Gypsy clan which sails from town to town to play guitar on the beach until they're ready to move on. Of course, Depp is carefully groomed to be the mysterious, handsome knight who'd more appropriately ride in on horseback rather than a river boat. He's a deep, emotional, and caring man, you see, if only someone would LISTEN. While the mayor forces through fear the "no chocolate" rule, interestingly enough he never mentions a far-more preached ethic of Christianity, which is not to judge other people. The mayor and his Christian slaves judge very harshly, and refuse to feed even the little children of the river rats.

The mayor's slaves are freed one by one by the Mayan chocolate gods' earthly pawn, and he gets more desperate, finally dissolving into a vandalistic rampage of bashing chocolate with a baseball bat. Some of the chocolate splatters on his lips though, and he can't help himself and rolls around in the chocolate eating it and crying like a baby. The next day he "surrenders" to Vivian and everything is ok.

So the movie has served it's original goal. Establish the idea that all Christians are blindly loyal braindead fools. Bring in a rebellious spirit to free them all. Show them that all their problems need not clinics, rehabs, or professional help, just chocolate. Show that any attempt at self-discipline, sobriety, or responsibility via Christianity is just another form of mental enslavement. Finally, humiliate the leader of the medieval religious hermits by making him succumb to his darkest temptations and then humbling himself to the Mayan cherub...who accepts his surrender on the condition he acknowledge he was blatantly wrong all along.

Final score:
Paganistic fornication with homeless drifters 1
Killjoy Christians who don't believe in fun 0.

This movie is designed to further the convictions of anyone with a pre-existing hatred of Christian morality. What better setting than France. The political correctness of it is disgusting as well, I might add. Only Christianity, or possibly Judaism, could be attacked this openly in today's society. If the movie was about a Christian drifter arriving in town to free the hearts and minds of a bunch of backwards atheists, or Tailbanesque Muslims, the film would never make it to the screen.

To the people who gave this movie five stars, I'm sorry you fell for such an obvious trap. I'm sorry you don't have enough insight to see a plot which consisted of a bunch of bowling pins setting themselves up at the end of the lane and writing the word STRIKE across their lower halves.