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The academy award nominated film Chocolat was not much of an original story idea. The whole concept has been done over and over again throughout time, what separates Chocolat from all the other similar storylines is the performances of the characters. Director Lasse Hallsrom pulled out of each character a heart-warming portrayal of each town's person of a small provincial French village. The writers, Joanne Harris (Novel) and Robert Nelson Jacobs fully developed each character down to the little dog. We could even identify Contessa Reynaud and all we had of her was a portrait on the Comte's desk. The flawless performance of Juliette Binoche (from The English Patient) was convincing as the free spirited single mother Vianne Rocher that follows the North blowing wind, just as her mother did. The surprising role was that of Johnny Depp (Sleepy Hollow) as Roux, a gypsy type Irish man. His brogue needed a wee bit work but he was enjoyable all the same. The landlady Armande was played by Judi Dench (The World Is Not Enough and Shakespeare in Love), which earned her an academy award nomination for her performance. What a convincing and entertaining performance she was as a crotchety old lady. I would say Dench has crotchety down pat. Chocolat begins in Sunday mass, just upon the arrival of lent. This is where we are introduced and develop a feel for each villager, with the exception of Dench. She is happily home asleep in her chair. During the sermon the North wind blows in and with it Binoche and her daughter Anouk (Victorire Thivisol). Binoche rents the vacant shop and proceeds with opening up a chocolate shop just as the town prepares for seven weeks of denial and self control. Yum, lets see, decadent, luscious, creamy, sweet, sinful, endorphin producing chocolate. Problem? Do you see a problem? Well maybe if Binoche were not an unwed mother, and lacking in faith of a religious nature there would not have been much of a story. Now without giving away any of the plot, you can see how a tightly wound community would react to this shop, the product and the stranger. Now it has already been determined this story has been told many times and many different ways so the outcome is a given, but appreciate the character for how unique they are. Chocolat is well written and outstandingly performed. This type of film could never be said to be my cup of tea, but I was sufficiently entertained the entire length of the movie. Although it was very tame in the alluded to sexuality and absolutely no nudity I still give Chocolat a nine in the About-movies rating. Now if Depp had given me just a glimpse of his perky bare butt, this movie might have made a perfect 10. Last updated: Thursday, March 20, 2008 02:49:33 AM |
