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"Once upon a time, there was a village in the French countryside."
The year is 1959. The place, a Church in a small French village. This is a story that could be set anywhere in the world. It is a colourless drab
little village that is ruled by an overbearing, self-righteous and judgemental but frightened mayor. He controls the village with his own sense of
morality and if you live in this village you are expected to know your place in the scheme of things and if you forgot your place, someone would
be there to remind you. They all hold to their traditions until one day a cold north wind blows into the town and with it come two red hooded
figures.
This is a clever and excellent story based on the novel by Joanne Harris and directed by Lasse Hallström
who also directed The Cider House Rules. You know I am really glad that I enjoy a wide variety and style of films. That means I get to
see and enjoy films that lots of people will just ignore because there are no explosions in them, no macho action. There are films out there
that should be seen but will not because they do not fit into that Hollywood niche. As a fellow male audience member was overheard to say
to his date, he was glad he came to accompany his date to the screening because he would never have come on his own. He really enjoyed
CHOCOLAT. You will as well if you take the time to see it when it arrives to theatre in your town. The film is sweet and bitter sweet
like chocolate, but just like chocolate it will leave a wonderful taste in your mouth.
"You make the most wonderful chocolate."
Vianne, played by the beautiful Juliette Binoche, enters the village with her daughter, Anouk, played by Victoire Thivisol.
They are there to rent a vacant pastry store from the crusty and cranky old Amande Voizin played by the venerable Judi Dench. She
was the queen in the film SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE but most of you will remember her as M in the new James Bond films.
Vianne is not there to open a pastry business, instead she opens a chocolaterie.
Sometime the next day the Mayor, Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina) visits the newcomers. He welcomes them to the town and
invites them to come to Church on Sunday. He is stunned when Vianne states that they do not worship. He also discovers that she has a child
and has not been married, and that the shop will not be a pastry shop but a surprise. These statements do not sit well at all with the anal
retentive Mayor. He has quickly decided that these two are not good for this village. Molina plays this character really well and I quickly got over
the fact that I only see him as a comedian in the 1999 television series LADIES MAN.
"Satan wears many guises."
Vianna makes, chocolate and has a sense of the kind of chocolate someone either likes or needs. There is magic in her chocolate and not just
in the taste. It performs magic on the persons eating it. Actually we discover that she has knowledge and skills that make the chocolate special.
Her father was a pharmacist that went to South America and discovered the special properties of cacao seed from which the powdered cocoa
comes from. Here he learns the Aztec skills and tricks of the cocoa or chocolate (which comes from the Azetec word cachuatl). He marries a
beautiful native woman who has incredible skills with chocolate. They come back to France and have a child but one day the clever north wind
had othe plans for the mother and daughter. The mother and daughter leave to travel around dipensing chocolate and wisdom. Vianna is that
daughter and now she carries on her mother's tradiations.
"Don't look so damned pleased with yourself."
While she incurs the wrath of the mayor she is gaining the love and friendship of many villagers as she helps them. She makes the dour Amande
a happy woman with her chocolate and then uses little tricks to bring Amande and her grandson together. The mother of Luc Clairmont
(Aurelien Parent-Koening) has kept her son away from her grandmother. Carrie-Anne Moss plays the widowed mother Caroline
Clairmont. She works for the the mayor as well. The mayor has a liking for her but he is married. His wife has gone to Italy and he thinks
she will return while everyone knows she has left him and his archaic morality. This has made him a bitter, moralistic tyrant who dominates the
villagers. The grandmother is a happy woman now that she spends time with her grandson, Caroline tries to keep him away but he finds ways
to visit his grandmother.
"We are still married in the eyes of God."
"Then he must be blind."
Another woman comes to Vianna about her husband that no longer seems interested in her. Boy, does Vianna's chocolate help. Another
gentleman has romantic intentions with an old widow played by Leslie Caron. The chocolate also helps them come together. Josephine
Muscat played by the lusious Lena Olin is a downtrodden wife who resorts to kleptomania to get attention. Her husband cares little for
and hits her often. Vianna's chocolate gives Josephine courage and strength to become her own woman. She leaves her husband Serge who is
played by Peter Stormare and goes to work and apprentice with Vianne. The mayor seeing how badly Serge treated Josephine and not
being able to accept that Vianna is winning, takes Serge under his wing and turns him into a new man, but when Serge tries to get back together
with Josephine, she acknowledges his change but does notwant to go back together with him. he goes out and gets drunk and then breaks into
their home and tries to beat Vianna and Josephine. The two women win out over him and throw Serge out.
"I should warn you, you make friends of us, you make enemies of others."
"You Promise?"
The priest in the village is a young, new priest that has only been in the church for five weeks. He like sto walk around sing Elvis Presley songs
but is chided often by the Mayor. The Mayor controls him to the point of even writing the pries'ts sermons. The poor priest has to hear many
confessions from notorious chocolate eaters. You see the story takes place during Lent and everyone is supposed to sacrifice and stay away from
treats, so most of them feel they have sinned. What no one realizes is that soon a greater challenge will arrive by river to challenge them all.
The river brings wandering gypsies to their shore. The river rats are happy go lucky wanderers who travel and trade, but their ideas upset the mayor.
Anouk and Vianna take a liking to them and especially their leader Roux played rather nicely by Johnny Depp. The Mayor now has
someone new to go after as well as Vianna.
"Did you believe what you told me? Was it all a joke?"
As the story progresses we learn much more about all the different characters and we see the village change slowly. We see the mayor's
desperation become even worse, we see some dire consequences of his acts and those of Serge, but we also see the liberation of a people.
CHOCOLAT is a story of redemption and true love. It's message is one of tolerance and respect for others. It is a Christian message
that the goodness of people is not in scriptures inside a Church but in our hearts and in our respect for each other.
The clever north wind still has plans that need to be satisfied but maybe by someone else, next time.
This clever story is well written and acted and it is a joy to watch. It is in English with recognizable actors and has all the other qualities
necessary to make it an entertaining movie for all audiences, but not for little children. Try to get over the label it has, as an art film and you
will enjoy it because CHOCOLAT is so good and rich.
"He went off to new adventures, I didn't miss him."
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