Chocolat

Rating:
Summary: What's wrong with you people?
Review: This movie is fantastic! The Comte is not the moral character in this movie. He stands for legalism and Vianne is someone who wants to help others and yet she is cursed by her mother's actions. The true moral character is the young priest who is forced to give sermons written by the Comte.
The Chocolate is the main character and it brings comfort to others in an almost magical way.
The soundtrack is wonderful. The scenery is exotic. My wife and I love this movie and you will too!

Rating:
Summary: An exquisite confectionary tale about living
Review: Whether as an afternoon teatime snack, quick pick-me-up at work, or Halloween treat, chocolate has become a staple in America. This movie is about chocolate, but about its use as a healer and its power to "unlock hidden yearnings and to shape destiny." Figures, since depression can be alleviated by chocolate. And the creator of this confection in this extremely palatable movie is a healer herself.

Chocolat tells the story of two people who descend upon a provincial French village in the wake of a sly and strong north wind. Those two people are Vianne and her young daughter Anouk. Oh, perhaps I should say two people and an animal. Anouk has an imaginary friend, Pontouf, who is a kangaroo. She sets up shop, a potisserie, and opens it during Lent, not exactly perfect timing in a God-fearing village whose inhabitants believe in calm, tranquilitee, to use French. Basically, knowing one's place, being obedient to authority, and going to church on Sunday are the pillars of this French village.

The idealist and romantic Vianne comes against the extremely conservative mayor, the Comte de Reynaud, as well as most of the people here. She doesn't wear black, doesn't go to church on Sundays, and (gasp!) is an unwed mother. She is also the only one who accepts Roux, the handsome leader of raft-bound river rats the town shuns as being immoral. As a wanderer herself, Vianne naturally finds affinity with the riverfolk.

Before long, things start happening in the village. People who buy her wares become more loosened in attitude, more courageous, and in the case of one married couple, saves their marriage with a rebirth in their sex life. She also helps her landlady establish ties with her grandson, who has an affinity for drawing morbid pictures. Basically, her altruistic spirit helps spread friendliness and helps certain townfolk relax from their hidebound ways. Vianne gains the enmity of the mayor who sees her as an enemy, and seeks to drive her away by having sermons against temptation and of the powers of Satan concealing first a veiled, later an open attack against her wares.

This will be the ultimate Juliette Binoche film for me, and my favourite movie of 2000. (OK, I know it came out in '99 but it came to my local theatre that year.) I must admit I was torn between her and Julia Roberts as my Best Actress choice for 2000. I've seen Alfred Molina play a large variety of roles, be it as Kenneth Halliwell (Prick Up Your Ears), Satipo (Raiders Of The Lost Ark), and most recently, as Diego Rivera in Frida. His portrayal shows he can act as a diametric opposite of Rivera, an uptight, stuffed shirt traditionalist. Lena Olin gets kudos as Josephine, a misunderstood kleptomaniac in a trapped marriage who follows her own drum. Naturally, she is one of the first to befriend Vianne. Judi Dench as Armand the landlady, and Peter Stormare as Josephine's odious and abusive husband also shine out here.

Chocolat also shows two things: One, we need more people like Vianne to heal us. Two, we need something to heal us, and no, I don't mean with standards such as religion or money, but something else that fills us within. This movie's a nice confection that isn't sickly sweet or mere coloured sugar, but something with a rich flavour that will leave one's stomach glowing inside.

Rating:
Summary: Trite and pretentious
Review: I have read through a fair number of reviews, and I see that many people have taken exception to this film's anti-Catholic attitudes and pervasive Liberalism. Well, nobody will ever accuse me a being a great friend of Roman Catholicism or of being a staunch conservative, but I too found this film to be pretty hard to stomach at times.

What was most annoying for me was how black and white everything was in this film. The liberated chocolatier versus the stuffed shirt mayor. Worldly cosmopolitanism versus small-town provincialism. I expect more from Lasse Hallstrom than a bunch of straw men waiting to be knocked down.

I found the chocolatier to be unbearably smug, as she deftly solves, one after another, the various problems afflicting the townspeople. You would think that these folks must be dumb as posts, because they seem incapable of solving their own predicaments. Perhaps it is in fact because these types of problems are so rarely solved with a few simple words and some chocolate goodies.

The treatment of the mayor was particularly hard to take. Here was a man of obviously deep convictions who took his duties to his town quite seriously, yet he is an object of ridicule throughout the film. His chocolate-induced collapse at the end of the movie struck me as a false note that could not be possibly be reconciled to the personality we had seen on the screen for the previous two hours. It seem extremely contrived? Is it possible that the filmmakers could not successfully resolve this storyline about the conflict between the two main characters? Left with no resolution to the move, were they forced to cobble together this ridiculous conclusion? It just seemed too forced and unbelievable.

I don't like movies that pretend to have all of the answers. However, the cinematography and music was very nice; for that, I give it 2 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Chocolat? Mais oui!
Review: Chocolat is a wonderful, sensual, and touching story that will satisfy you to the very end. Sweet, witty, and endearing. Juliette Binoche, Judi Dench, Alfred Molina, Lena Olin, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Johnny Depp all give fantastic performances. Hugh O'Conor also shines as the Elvis-imitating priest.

This is a great adaptation of the novel by the same name. This film teaches us to measure our lives by what we indulge ourselves in, as well as what we deprive ourselves of. There is strength in both virtues, and only one who finds that equilibrium can be truly happy in life.

Chocolat, anyone?

Rating:
Summary: Hostility towards morality makes this movie biased
Review: When this movie came out, I really wanted to see it.The location and actors are beautiful and well-chosen. The acting was high quality as well.

So with so much going for the movie, why was I disheartened by the ending? The charactor of the mayor is stilted. He is a moral man who loves his city, the city's people and feels strongly that he provides leadership through example. Having been left by his wife in a time when divorce was not available, he treads the higher moral ground by not speaking ill of his missing wife, and by not bedding a woman that clearly cares for him, in spite of the fact that he is still coming to terms with the loss.

Toward the end of the movie, the mayor is shown in the chocolate shop, rolling around in the chocolate. This seemed very inconsistent with a charactor who feels so strongly about morality. While some have suggested that this scene reveals the mayor's hypocrisy, I think that the makers of the movie lost their focus at this point. If they were trying to say that morality should not be equated with a joyless life,they did not show this in the chocolate-rolling scene. Frankly, the scene makes the mayor look crazy rather than open to new ideas. The makers of the movie would have done better to show morality being combined with the joys of life, instead of making those with morals into the "bad guys". In fact, after the mayor's "awakening", he is shown making friends with the woman who cares for him. However, it is appears he plans to just sleep with her rather than the movie's making a point that he is divorcing his wife so that he can move on from his loss,yet maintain his morality. As a result,the movie celebrates his fall from morality as a good thing.

So, the movie celebrates the single mother who is sleeping with a man she just met as a hero, and makes a fool of the man whose strongest desire is to live a moral life in spite of hardship.
As a result, I walked away from this movie feeling cheated of the "feel good" ending I expected and was disappointed in "if it feels good do it" moral of this story.

Rating:
Summary: Life CAN Be Sweet
Review: Chocolat was surprisingly better than I anticipated. From the cover and previews at the time, I thought it was yet another fantasy-laden bore. Although not an action film, the story was more inviting than first impressions would present. The acting is good, especially by Juliette Binoche (when will she make more American movies?) and Johnny Depp (who appears much less often than I thought he would). The supporting roles are well-acted also. Although the movie is somewhat predictable, it is still enjoyable for its showing how human behavior can change for the better and that it often takes less effort than eating chocolate. Time to eat!

Rating:
Summary: Delicious
Review: Coming from Lasse Hallstrom, the director of 'Cider House Rules', this film is sweet as it's name. It is a simple story set in a French village in the late 1950s. Vianne ( Juliette Binoche ) who migrates from village to village comes here alongwith her daughter Anouk ( Victoriwe Thivisol ) on a cold windy day. She rents a shop from Amande ( Judi Dench ) to open a delightful Chocolaterie. Her little shop introduces the villagers to the pleasures of delectable chocolate and spiced hot cocoa which Vianne prepares and serves personally. She befriends many with her knack of guessing each one's favourite flavour. Little does she know that this town is controlled by the Mayor ( Alfred Molina ) who is an orthodox man and despises all such worldly pleasures. He uses the church sermons to preach the village folk to stay away from such temptations he considers sins and makes no pretence of his dislike towards Vianne. The movie is about how Vianne takes up this challenge fighting her own insecurities and seduces the village with her fine art of making sinfully tempting chocolates. There are several subplots in the film - one of a battered wife Josephine (Lena Olin ) who stands up for herself , Amande's bitter relation with her daughter and her longing to be with her grandson, the Mayor's own inauthenticity and the bad boy gypsy Roux ( Johnny Depp ) who plays the love interest of Vianne.

The movie is warm and sensitive. There is a lot of lighthearted humour brought out in various situations. The scenes that show the making of delicious and eye-catching chocolates are delightful. All chocolate lovers will be lip smacking at those very moments. But, movie's strength is in exposing the hypocrisy of those who claim to be close to God but have chosen the path of denial even to such simple a pleasure as enjoying a chocolate. It teaches us to drop all the significance we give to our lives instead of just relishing our moments.

Vianne's character as the charming chocolatier is played to perfection by Juliette Binoche. While, Albert Molina as the repressive Mayor is excellent. Johnny Depp gives the romantic angle to the film. Judi Dench as the old indulgent Amande is graceful.

See this one, it will bring a sweet smile to your face.

Rating:
Summary: Great Movie!!!!!!
Review: Chocolat (French word for Chocolate - for those not linguistically endowed) is a charming movie which leaves you feeling good about life (no matter how much it sucks in reality!). It is based on a novel of the same name by a not-so-well-known writer Joanne Harris.

Based in a small french town, the movie charts the life of Vianne Rocher and her young daughter Anouck and her imaginary pet kangaroo pantoufle. Vianne and her (apparently) out-of-wedlock daughter move into this town and set up a chocolaterie (a chocolate shop) much to the dismay of the orthodox inhabitants. Vianne is opposed by most of the town dwellers, especially the mayor who considers it blasphemous to even think about chocolate in the traditional month of abstinence for the christians - Lent.

The movie is about how Vianne slowly wins over the townfolk with her 'customised' chocolates and coffee and by caring / listening to others and helping them. The movie stars the extremely attractive Juliette Binoche, Dame Judi Dench and Johnny Depp in a pretty different role. The film is a 'Life is beautiful' kind of movie that leaves you with a lump in the throat and reassured that all is not wrong with this world.

Rating:
Summary: How far can people use religion
Review: This is a very good movie. I got to see a conflict between Vivien the chocolat making lady and the officials in the small town. The mayor is strongly opposing her presence and business in town. So he tries by all means to find a way that can make the community to hate her too. Since majority of the people are strongly Catholic religious, he influences the priest to preach that Satan will come to them in a form of chocolat. By so doing, driving the customers away. Even though she is been hated by almost all in town, Vivien continues to love everybody the same way.

There is also Josephine`s abusive husband, who takes hide from alcohol. After a series of abuse, Josephine found refuge in Vivien`s house and help her with the chocolat making.

Overall, the chocolat brings everybody together.

Rating:
Summary: Sweet Aphrodisiac
Review: A rose is a rose is a rose is a...
That by any other name would smell as sweet.

So, what is in a name? A lot I would posit when it comes to this movie. Take for instance, this movie came out a few years after the hugely successful Alfonso Arau-directed, "Like Water for Chocolate." Hollywood seemed to be in the habit of producing doubles at the time. "A Bug's Life" was successful so someone produced "Antz", etcetera, etcetera. The "Like Water for Chocolate" "Chocolat" seemed like another such mirror image conundrum, thus my movie-viewing family stayed away from this one. That is until recently, and I must say, this is a different film and one on top of it that is wholly enjoyable.

It tries a bit too hard to be foreign and although shot in an authentic French provincial village (apparently they actually have these dotted across the countryside of France) comes off as having an American tilt to it. So, here is the other difficulty in the name. If you talk about watching this movie to your friends or ask a video rental clerk for it, it's almost impossible to pronounce the name without coming across as an "I only watch films instead of movies and if the film is foreign it instantly is raised in my esteem" snobbery. Try it. Pronounce "Chocolat" to your dog sitting next to you now by your computer. See, your nose instantly goes in the air, the corners of your mouth are down-turned in a pouty snootery, and the top of your head wiggles every so slightly side to side to indicate...there...I've just said something foreign making me somewhat better than you. "Chocolat." Take this piece of advice, since the film is slightly Americanized (how can you have Johnny Depp in it and not be?) go ahead and Americanize the title by calling it Chocolate. If it was good enough for Hershey, by God, it can be good enough for you. Besides, your dog and friends will respect you more for it.

Back to the movie. Juliette Binoche is somewhat miscast as a wanderer-drifter magical Chocolatier. She is just too prim and proper coming off as a French Martha Stewart to be a true wizardress succumbing to the call of the North Wind at a whim and off like a pastry puff to the next town to weave her magic. Judy Dench is...well Judy Dench, which is to say the lady is brilliant. I could watch her act all day. Johnny Depp is fun as a riverboat drifter rat and the interplay between the stodgy townsfolk's small-town politics and the magic these outsiders bring to the French village is one of the most compelling parts of the movies. Overall, despite the name, I would say it's an enjoyable view.