Review of Chocolat (2000) by Jgien E — 05 Dec 2010

Vianne Rocher (Juliette Binoche) and her daughter Anouk (Victoire Thivisol) roam the French countryside in the winter of 1959, ending up in a bleak, small village governed by the iron hand of restrained hard core catholic mayor Comte Paul de Reynaud (Alfred Molina). Vianne and Anouk soon open up a chocolate store in a locale rented to them by the grumpy Armande (played by the rock solid Judi Dench). Melted by Vianne's chocolate-talents and mysterious knack for loosening sexual restraint, and saving the abused Josephine (Lena Olin) from insanity, a few of the villagers is won over and welcomed into her cozy chocolaterie. Though she immediately catches the evil eye of the mayor, choosing to open her sinful den - like a "Mexican brothel" - during Lent.

From the start a slight fairy tale quality is established about the movie. Accentuated by the "once there was a"-style voiceover and the contrast between Vianne's and Anouk's Little-Red-Riding-Hood capes to the pale weathered village. It is also further underlined by the quasi-magical qualities of Vianne's chocolate, injecting life into the stiff, prudish villagers.

There is unexpected humor when de Reynaud tries to make a pious gentleman out of Josephine's abusive and drunkard husband Serge (Peter Stormare), forcing him to go through Sunday school. Otherwise there is not much that is memorable about the movie. Everything is very neatly packaged and delivered, perfectly safe. Johnny Depp makes a totally ok contribution as river rat Roux. Not surprisingly there is romantic development between Vianne and Roux. It feels obligated, but without being contrived for that matter. She gives him chocolate, he is ruggedly handsome, and something something chocolate.

All this loose behavior and sinful intent gives the mayor the heeby-jeebies, especially when rustling bags of chocolate even sneaks its way into church. Gasp! In the end even Jesus on the cross looks like he is made out of chocolate.

There is a timeless quality to the movie that is very difficult to put your finger on, perhaps because it is a tad bland. Nothing is ever overstated (except chocolate), and while subtlety can certainly be a good thing, in this case it misfires a bit and helps shape the movie into something very predictable and harmless. Though not necessarily bad, there is nothing that really stands out. The actors all feel right for their roles and do their job without many hiccups, the photo is conservative in an effective way, and the chocolate is brown.

I hardly noticed the music in the movie at all, which they say is a good thing. It is anyhow quite sparse and woven tightly into the scenes.

The multinational cast and style becomes a bit weird since everyone is speaking a slightly different kind of frenchlish. Carrie Ann Moss tries very hard with her faux-french accent but it just comes across a little silly. Dench doesn't seem to try at all, but hey, she is Judi Dench.

To wrap it up, Chocolat is not really bad at all. Nor does it excel in any way either. It is a bland, naïve and slightly too long movie at 121 minutes. It will leave you with a fuzzy warm feeling inside for almost half an hour. And perhaps a craving for chocolate.