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Review by Rick Romancito
Here's a little twist on an old drinking-style game: Go out and buy an expensive bar of the best milk chocolate you can find. Perugina or Lindt will do fine. A handful of double chocolate truffles may do you in. Then, take a date to see the new film "Chocolat," starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp.
When the first character on screen takes
a bite of chocolate, take one yourself.
The next time, offer it to your companion. Keep alternating thereafter.
The bites will be maddeningly sporadic as the movie unreels, but
the anticipation of your next taste could very well bring the
two of you closer.
In doing so, you mirror the suppressed
desire which fuels the main conflict in director Lasse Hallstrom's
new film, and each bite the liberating nature of a small yet powerful
confection.
There are obvious connections going on here, between chocolate
and sex, religion and repression, as are certain plot elements,
which follow a traditional fairy tale allegory. But it is the
way the tale is told that elevates the extraordinary from the
mundane. While there are elements of "Chocolat" that
are perhaps a little too precious, they are easily overlooked
in favor of the earthy tone and lightly comic energy at its heart.
As the camera hovers angelically over the tiny 1950s French village of Lansquenet, we can see that it is a very tightly-compacted cluster of stony buildings atop a grassy knoll within which live a community of upright citizens led by the ultra conservative Compte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina). The Compte's influence even overshadows the young priest of the church in the village square, who secretly admires Elvis and rock 'n' roll.
It is the beginning of the Lenten season and all are admonished to keep the virtues of sacrifice and abstinence close at hand. Then, into their midst comes the beautiful and mysterious Vianne Rocher (Binoche) and her daughter, Anouk (Victoire Thivisol).
You can tell their arrival means trouble because they both wear red cloaks, do not attend church and think independently. Vianne arranges to rent a vacant patisserie and proceeds to get busy behind covered windows cleaning and readying it for business. What kind of business has everyone quietly abuzz, for if they were to show any more than that, the Compte might find out and, well, you get the picture.
We learn about several people in town. There is Josephine Muscat (Lena Olin), the battered wife of the local cafe owner who is considered mad because she refuses to concede to her brutish husband, Serge (Peter Stormare); and the 70 year-old libertine Armande (Judi Dench) and her estranged daughter, Caroline (Carrie-Anne Moss). Each will play a role in the opening of what everyone is curious to find out about but is shocked to learn - a chocolaterie, opened, of all things, during Lent.
What follows is a story about repression and desire, one that probably would have unfolded quite differently 50 or 60 years ago. In this, however, we're given a message that the church, for all its powers to instill righteousness and faith, at some point became the tool for those who would rather that any capitulation to humanity's basic instincts is conveyed with a wagging finger and the warning that you'll rot in hell for your so-called sins.
Even deeper is this film's underlying message that it's not the church or conservative elements that stand in the way of fulfillment, it's our own fear of recognizing those things in ourselves that prevent us from accepting happiness.
For Vianne, landing in this town to dispense her earthy wisdom and luscious confections is part of a grander plan. It seems that she is the offspring of a pharmacist father and a Mayan mother, who met when her father traveled to South America to collect various herbal remedies for scientific study. While learning of the wonders induced by a heady concoction of cocoa beans and red chile, he fell in love with a beautiful native woman whose family has traditionally traveled from village to village giving out these miraculous delicacies. Quitting his profession, her father became part of this tradition, which was then passed to their daughter.
The problem for Vianne is that Anouk hates having to settle in to a new place, only to be uprooted and move on. Things take an interesting turn when a riverboat traveler named Roux (Depp) arrives with his clan on the banks of the river near Lansquenet, which of course inflames the townsfolk even more.
"Chocolate" is a beautifully-filmed
fable, featuring marvelous performances all around and a sweet
energy at its core. It is rated PG-13 for some language and sensuality.
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