Chocolat

Rating:
Summary: A Movie You Won't Want To Miss
Review: Roger Ebert really sort of summed it up by saying : "It's the sort of movie you can enjoy as a superior fable, in which the values come from children's fairy tales but adult themes have been introduced."

I'd add to that by saying : It's the type of movie that's perfect for a Sunday afternoon viewing... It doesn't overwhelm you with a lot of fast paced, rich detail that challenges your brain on it's day off from work, but instead just slowly draws you into a sweet story that'll put a smile on your face and a tear in your eye occasionally... Juliette Binoche is REALLY aging well, and a real JOY to watch on screen... and I enjoyed the character portrayals from the other main and supporting characters as well ... Many of the characters you will recognize from other solid character portrayals in other films... Peter Stormare [ Remember the BAD guy : Gaer Grimsrud in 'Fargo', how could you forget him, right? ] and Lena Olin, a favorite of mine, who also appeared in 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' with Juliette Binoche, just to name two...

Maybe not 'Best Picture' even though it certainly deserves the nomination, but certainly a good one in a lean year... A movie well worth seeing when you're in a mellow mood... GOOD one!... Don't miss it.

Rating:
Summary: One Taste Is All It Takes
Review: In the 1950's, single mother Vianne Rocher (Binoche) and her 6-year-old daughter move to the small French town of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes, where Vianne opens a chocolate shop, during Lent, across from the town's church (and she's open on Sundays). As you'd imagine in a small town, her wares are soon adored and consumed by the locals, but not without some resentment and opposition. In addition to Vianne's story, this is an ensemble piece drama about the many locals who frequent the chocolate shop, and the "Grand Festival of Chocolate" that Vianne holds... on Easter Sunday.

Rating:
Summary: The Sweet Mysteries Of Life
Review: A film to awaken the senses and stimulate the sweet tooth, "Chocolat," directed by Lasse Hallstrom and starring Juliette Binoche. is both a sensuous and sensational delight. In the mid '50s, as if borne on the winds of fate, a somewhat mysterious woman arrives in a small town in France, with a young daughter, Anouk (Victoire Thivisol) in tow and a special talent that soon has the townsfolk in quite a stir. Binoche is Vianne Rocher, a woman who uses her exotic recipe for chocolate to unlock the repressed sensibilities of the predominately Catholic citizenry, heretofore kept under the rigid and righteous thumb of the Mayor, Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina), with no respite or help, even from the town's young and inexperienced priest, Pere Henri (Hugh O'Conor). And because Vianne has the audacity to open her chocolate shop during Lent, when of course her sumptuous treats are forbidden, she quickly runs afoul of the Mayor and a battle of wills between the two ensues. Her chocolates are irresistible, but the Mayor has tradition and religion on his side, and it puts the free-spirited Vianne-- who has something of the gypsy in her-- to the test. As a director, Hallstrom has just the right touch that brings out the best this story has to offer, which is to say, quite a bit. It's an affecting and funny movie that will touch you emotionally as it involves you with the characters; Hallstrom knows what buttons to push and when, and it works splendidly. There's a touch of mystery surrounding Vianne that underscores the sensitivity of the story, and Hallstrom never allows it to become maudlin, which successfully maintains the integrity of the drama. And there are moments throughout the film that evoke an almost dream-like sense of pacification that draw you in as you indulge in the mouth watering visual pleasures of the chocolate. Be forewarned, though, it's a tough one for diabetics to watch. What Hallstrom also has going for him in this one is an absolutely exquisite cast, many of whom give Oscar worthy, memorable performances, beginning with the superb Juliette Binoche. There's an earthy, enigmatic and classic sense of beauty about her that make her presence on screen captivating; she's simply a joy to behold. Judi Dench (Amande), meanwhile, does a terrific character turn as a mother whose daughter, Caroline (Carrie-Anne Moss), deems her an embarrassment and a bad influence on her son, Luc (Aurelien Parent-Koening), and Lena Olin (Josephine) is outstanding as well, as an unhappy woman who finds hope in Vianne's undaunted spirit. Three extraordinary performances from gifted actresses that should be recognized with Oscar nominations. And Molina, too, as the narrow minded Comte, gives possibly the best performance of his career, while Johnny Depp (Roux) lends some charm as the leader of a roving community of river people. Rounding out the supporting cast are John Wood (Guillaume), Peter Stormare (Serge) and Leslie Caron (Madame Audel). Possibly the "sweetest" film of the year, as well as one of the best, "Chocolat" is a visual and emotional triumph that will warm your heart and make your taste buds salivate, with a story and characters as rich and satisfying as the candy they embrace. It's a film with a human touch whose images and sensitivity will remain with you long after the screen has gone dark; an uplifting, entertaining movie that proves that the answers to the mysteries of life just may be found in that box of chocolates, after all.

Rating:
Summary: A delectable bite of fantasy!
Review: If I were to rank this film purely based on the pleasure it supplies, I would give it 5 stars. This film, beautifully concocted from a book of the same name, presents the viewer with a magical look at a French village in 1959, that is transformed by the arrival of a lovely French woman and her 6 year old daughter. This village is governed by a wealthy mayor who views all pleasure as sinful and requiring immediate intolerance. He enters into a head on collision with the young woman who views religion as an albatross against the enjoyment of living. The townspeople have been living under the iron will of the mayor and his ancestors for forever and come alive with the arrival of the Chocolatier created by the vivacious newcomers. Juliette Binoche is wonderful, Judi Dench is perfect, Lena Olin is heartbreaking, Alfred Molina is evil disguised as "good," and Johnny Depp, as always, is sexy and charming.

Rating:
Summary: Not as mysterious as a box of chocalates....
Review: Though after watching the film, you may get a hankering that not even Mssrs Hershey and Nestle can help. Set in a picture-perfect French provincial town in 1959, "Chocalat" poses ossified eurocentric traditions against even older, though more liberating pagan traditions enshrined in the recipe book for chocalate. The nominal leader of the town, the Count de Reynaud (Alfred Molina) is also the nominal villain and the personification of those euro values. Making sure the town attends church every Sunday en masse, the Count writes the sermons for the town's seemingly teengae Priest and chooses which pleasing form is to be the designated evil of the week. Trying to balance things out, the narrator assures us that the count rules by example, working intolerable hours, writing editorials in local papers, abstaining during lent and nursing in pious silence the ache of his missing Countess. Worse than pious, however, the Count also represents all that is unimaginative, and when he reminds us that he is superior to the Count of Monte Cristo because he is not a work of fiction, the die is set. His subtle and craven innuendos against the owner of the new Chocalatiere, the mysteriously exotic Vien (Juliette Binoche) are redundant when his stalwart traditionalism so effectively marks him as the evil vanilla in a sea of liberating chocalate.

The lushly pagan Vien, a descendant of Mayans, knows how to fashion a cure for anything out of chocalate. As in "Cider House Rules" the reasons for her underlying indifference to the established religion isn't as important to the fact of her indifference. (Remember those stuffy traditionalist trustees for Dr. Larch's orphanage - how we're supposed to distrust them the moment they appear). Setting up shop, she opens a fantastic Chocalatiere with a display window so lush in chocalate, that it threatens to morph the town from a french provincial town to the sort of mock-up of one that you'd see in Disney's EPCOT. Handing out free samples of just about anything, and boasting of the power to find, for each customer, their personal favorite choclate. The Joke is that the townspeople, so long cloistered and fettered, have never had any of the life affirming sweets, let alone cultivatred a favorite. Not quite winning her way into their hearts, Vien redeems a wife battered by her husband and her past (her father collaborated with the Germans) into kleptomania, an aging widower (John Wood) himself pining for a war widow (the war being World War I), a drifter with no sense of home (Johnny Depp - is there anyhting Depp can't do?), a crabby landlady (Judi Dench) facing a crabby death without her grandson, and other townspeople beaten into routine by the righteous Count.

With its picturesque locale and engaging story, "Chocalat" wins out over the prechy moralism of the script which is basically summed up as "be human and enjoy it" (the film culminates in an Easter sermon in which the boyish priest, writing without the Count's control for once, admonishes the town to think, not of the risen Christ, but Christ the man). It's the routines of traditionlaism, the film implies, that prevent this. The town's tranquility (I can't remeber the french word that the narrator repeats thruought the film) thinly veils its oppressive routine, but the film is so eager to please and slow to challenge its audience, that its own tranquility isn't as subtle.

Rating:
Summary: CHARMING ADULT FAIRY-TALE
Review: Juliette Binoche is one of those very rare actresses who performs without showing it; she is warm, supple, appealing, radiant and simply intoxicating seemingly without effort. She is the perfect person to play the lead in this gorgeous adult fairy tale, directed by Lasse Hallstrom, who helmed Cider House Rules with a similar burnished glow. Virtually all of the players in this sentimental delight are wonderful, most notably Lena Olin, playing an abused wife, and Judi Dench, who once again is mesmerizing in a pivotal supporting role. The movie's overall themes of acceptance, of accepting and changing one's destinies, and its Auntie-Mame sentiment, are light and woven expertly into the overall picture, which is fresh, well concocted and stunning to look at. You will want to move to this fairy-tale French village, you will want to sip that deep, rich chili-peppered cocoa, and you will want to wrap your tongue around any of the dazzling chocolates you watch being made right before your eyes.

Rating:
Summary: Forget the popcorn bring chocolate!
Review: Bring the best, most indulgent chocolate you can find. It's the first thing I obsessively wanted after this film. Chocolate that just turns to liquid and is as smooth as silk. You'll understand.

The TV commercials are alittle misleading, one of the scenes shown isn't in the film. That really doesn't mattter. The cast is fun. Johnny Depp is grown up and I just had a good time.

Rating:
Summary: Modern Adult Fairy Tale Soon To Be A Beloved Classic
Review: Rarely do films blatently announce themselves as fairy tales and then proceed to position themselves not for children, but for older audiences and adults. The film's tone is reminiscent of a child's fairy tale, but the film has adult sensuality and a conflict regarding religious beliefs as well. It's also an English language film (in case you were wondering) with an international cast of Swedish, German, English, American and French actors.

The film is not all gooey sweetness and charm and refuses to play it safe. It does not shy away from its sensuality and allows it's actors to show us more than one dimension of character. Even the heavies are presented with a degree of compassion. It's ultimately a romantic sensual film concentrating more on spirituality, fantasy and sensuality than on action, machismo and sex. It is more a women's picture than a guy's movie.

I believe Chocalat will soon become a very much admired holiday themed film for teenagers and adults to watch year after year. It's more of an Easter holiday themed film, since it is set during Lent in 1959 than a Christmas film however. It's a film that is more than a war between the ideologies of paganism and Christianity, and concerns itself with the true meaning of compassion, acceptance and understanding. It's a better film than it was a book.

We are introduced to the film with a brief voice over that begins Once Upon Time and shown a remote French village, introducing a couple of it's characters. There's an unfortunate over-use of some obvious CGI effects in the first establishing shots of the town.

The town is ruled as it has been for generations by a member of the de Reynaud family. An ancestors statue sternly stands guard in the center of town.. We meet the Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina) who insists everyone it the town observe weekly mass, and adhere to a formal belief in Christianity. He's the richest man in tower, the mayor and he helps the new priest in town by editing and rewriting his sermons-which he will later use to help turn the townspeople against the newest member of the village. His wife however has been a long extended Holiday in Italy-perhaps not intending to ever return. (In the book, it was the priest who was the heavy-the change means we don't see a priest being tyrannical and hypocritical instead he's a pawn in another man's 'war'. This isn't playing it safer though, it's opening it up to be more than a battle of paganism versus Christianity.). The Count believes in leading by example, so he's hard on himself, barely eating anything during his Lental fast and certainly not sweets.

A mysterious woman named Vianne ( played superbly by Julliette Binoche) and her child Anouk (Victoire Thivisol) appears as if traveling on a strong North Wind into the small town. It is the way of these two. They have moved from town to town, sometimes leaving by choice, sometimes run out of town by a scared and fearful populace. Vianne rents a long shuttered bakery from a crabby suspicious old woman (marvelously played by Judi Dench). When the Count stops by to introduce himself to Vianne and invite her to church service, Vianne informs him she doesn't go to church. When he frowns on the idea that she is going to open her bakery during Lent, she informs him it will not a bakery but only says what she is doing is a surprise. The Count is shocked to learn that Vianne is not widowed, but has never been married. He immediately is threatened by her presence and fears she means to challenge everything he stands for. Does she? It would seem not to be the case, but her presence is disruptive to the town.

Finally she opens a chocolatier, specializing in all kinds of exotic chocolates, some promising to cure headaches, lift spirits and even save marriages. We learn Vianne has a secret Chocolate recipe used by an ancient civilization and passed on to her by her mother. A mother who felt it was her destiny to share her chocolate with the world and now... so does her daughter.

How dare this brazen, unmarried, possible atheist woman open a decadent chocolate shop during Lent !!! Who does she think she is? The Count decides she is the enemy and must be banished from the town. Meanwhile, she is winning converts... one of her secret chocolate recipes has brought passion back into a marriage, another has lifted up the spirits of her cranky old land-lady who then is re-united with her estranged grandson, and she befriends and then protects the abused wife (wonderfully played by Lena Olin) of a tavern owner (Peter Stormare). She even encourages a romance between old timers (Hugh O'Connor and Leslie Caron -yes THAT Leslie (An American in Paris) Caron.

Who is this woman who almost seems to be dabbling in witchcraft, is making some changes in the townspeople, has an illegitimate daughter and refuses to go Church? What is her real agenda? Is she evil?

When a wandering band of Irish Gypsy river rats appears, the town quickly shuns them by order of the Mayor, The Count. They can't legally kick them out of the town but they can make them want to go when they can find any odd jobs to get paid and they aren't served food or drink anywhere in the town. The leader of the River Rats (Johnny Depp) is accepted however by Vianne and a romance blossoms which further ostracizes her from the town and sets up a near tragic situation which leads to the film's conclusion. It's not a completely predictable conclusion however-though certainly one which will please most audiences.

Johnny Depp in his supporting role as Roux, has never been more relaxed, nor as effective as he is here. He's even got a good sounding Irish accent which sounds natural rather than actor forced. Depp's been getting some critical notices for many years and he's been good in several pictures, but usually his technique as an actor brings an aloofness to the characters he portrays preventing them from being completely believable. I've enjoyed his performances but this is the first time he seems completely at ease and natural.

Director Lasse Hallstrom fresh off The Cider House Rules, and writer Rober Nelson Jacobs (from the novel by Joanne Harris) find the perfect balance of drama and comic whimsy to create a warm modern fable.

Like the best fables there's a gentle, simple sweetness to the tale which requires a strong suspension of belief in the viewer. There's a naivety to the story and characters in the film which could only exist in a fictional world. We aren't bulldozed into the films charms, and we aren't spoon fed its sweetness either. There are some moments of bitterness as well. The film realizes several perfectly realized little moments which gave me a sense of exhilaration--the type I have felt while watching films like Wizard of Oz or It's a Wonderful Life. And while Chocolat isn't quite that good, it does come close in many ways. It's a film I look forward to viewing and enjoying many more times. . . perhaps annually during Lent.

Chris Jarmick, Author (The Glass Cocoon with Serena F. Holder...

Rating:
Summary: OK, but disappointing relationships.
Review: This movie was OK, but less than I expected, especially from the character as it was written, not as it was played by Johnny Depp - he was superb. If you enjoyed this movie, definitely see THE MAN WHO CRIED with Depp and Christina Ricci. I liked it better.

Rating:
Summary: Lovely and Enchanting
Review: "Chocolat" is a movie based on Joanne Harris's novel of the same name. I recommend experiencing both.

This movie is visually stunning with alot of work having been done to perfect the scenery so that the viewer is transported into a quaint little French Town. The musical score is upbeat and passionate which adds a special dimension to the film.

Johnny Depp does an excellent job as the gypsy drifter that is greeted with reserve and prejudice by the uptight townspeople. Juliette Binoche plays the single woman with child who blows into town with a wind and leaves it in stiches. She opens a chocolate shop and falls prey to the overly religious mayor of the town because she entices others to sin during lent. I have to say that my favorite character is played by Dame Judy Dench, she is the free spirit of the town refusing in all of her years to be programmed by the rest of the world. She indulges in the delicious chocolate despite being diabetic and scolded by doctors and her own daughter. The chocolate becomes its own character managing to magically cure all of the towns ills if they allow it to work its sweet way into their deepest desires.

A sweetly sinful indulgence indeed!!