Chocolat (2000)
Directed by Lasse Hallström
In the winter of 1959, a single mother and her young daughter arrive in a rural French town, where they open an unusual chocolate shop that disrupts the moral fiber of the strictly Catholic townsfolk and mayor.
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Take Footloose and Like Water for Chocolate , steep the combo in a heaping helping of corn syrup, and you’ll come out with the sticky, sickly-sweet romantic cautionary tale Chocolat.
"Chocolat" is a subdued food-for-the-soul picture on the order of "Like Water for Chocolate" (1992), with a dash of Johnny Depp's effortless charisma added to the recipe.
Though Chocolat presents its title treats as "sinfully scrumptious" -- the same sort of passionate treats as Big Night and Like Water For Chocolate -- Hallstrom never quite conveys the right amount of desire.
Variations on the theme have found their way into a broad assortment of popular films, from "The Sound of Music" and "The Piano" to the Oscar-winning "Antonia's Line" to such classics as "Like Water for Chocolate" and "Babette's Feast," in which the forbidden fruit of the flesh is given a gastronomical dimension.
But these performances are simply not enough to deliver the movie to the level of "Like Water for Chocolate," "Babette's Feast" and other great movies about the magical connection between the gastronomic and the romantic or spiritual.
"Chocolat" toddles along pleasantly enough, though the best things are fleeting -- like Hallström's homage to Albert Lamorisse's classic children's short "The Red Balloon" or a whimsical glimpse of Anouk's imaginary playmate.
"Chocolat," an appealing comic fable aimed at those with a bittersweet tooth, is a gourmet treat in the tradition of the more nutritious "Babette's Feast."
Variations on the theme have found their way into a broad assortment of popular films, from "The Sound of Music" and "The Piano" to the Oscar-winning "Antonia's Line" to such classics as "Like Water for Chocolate" and "Babette's Feast," in which the forbidden fruit of the flesh is given a gastronomical dimension.
(December 22, 2000) -- Babette's Feast taught filmgoers that a great meal is heavenly.
But these performances are simply not enough to deliver the movie to the level of "Like Water for Chocolate," "Babette's Feast" and other great movies about the magical connection between the gastronomic and the romantic or spiritual.
That surface peacefulness is churned up when a cold North wind blows the red cloaked Vianne Rocher (Juliette Binoche, "The English Patient") and her daughter Anouk (Victoire Tivisol, "Ponette") into town in director Lasse Hallstrom's ("The Cider House Rules") "Chocolat."
Also notable are 8-year-old Thivisol, who wowed critics as a 4-year-old in the title role of Jacques Doillon's moving Ponette (1996), and teenager Aurelien Parent-Koening, making his debut.
Second, french-braided Depp is just "too Hollywood" for the film, which presents itself as a subtitled French film, from its title and inclusion of French cast members (including Binoche and young Thivisol, so striking in Ponette), and something of a quaint period piece.
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Variations on the theme have found their way into a broad assortment of popular films, from "The Sound of Music" and "The Piano" to the Oscar-winning "Antonia's Line" to such classics as "Like Water for Chocolate" and "Babette's Feast," in which the forbidden fruit of the flesh is given a gastronomical dimension.
Some will also find a certain relish in the film's role-reversal of Olin's and Binoche's relationship in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being."
Variations on the theme have found their way into a broad assortment of popular films, from "The Sound of Music" and "The Piano" to the Oscar-winning "Antonia's Line" to such classics as "Like Water for Chocolate" and "Babette's Feast," in which the forbidden fruit of the flesh is given a gastronomical dimension.
Soon her chocolates have sparked the love life of a middle aged couple, started a senior romance between dog lover Guillaume (John Wood, "An Ideal Husband") and war widow Madame Audel (Leslie Caron, "Funny Bones"), engaged timid battered wife Josephine (Lena Olin, "Mystery Men") and secretly reunited Armande and Luc.
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Variations on the theme have found their way into a broad assortment of popular films, from "The Sound of Music" and "The Piano" to the Oscar-winning "Antonia's Line" to such classics as "Like Water for Chocolate" and "Babette's Feast," in which the forbidden fruit of the flesh is given a gastronomical dimension.
The Comte tries to run Vianne out of business by spreading rumors at the local hair salon and having Pere Henri (Hugh O'Connor, "The Young Poisoner's Handbook") denounce her wares as sinful in his sermons, but he can't argue with her harboring of Josephine.
The film is set in a provincial French town in 1960, where everyone is deeply religious, and the local Mayor (Alfred Molina) has set himself up as the town’s moral guardian, with the aid of the timid and easily-coerced priest (Hugh O’Connor – last seen in The Young Poisoner’s Handbook).