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Chocolat Customer Reviews (64 - 66 of 72 Reviews)

Like a Lindt truffle melting on the tip of your tongue ; )
I felt compelled to write a review about this movie, because it is really something. You readers might not find much use of this review. The best thing is to see the movie. It is a movie for chocolate lovers! If you are a true chocolate lover you will absolutely delight in this movie for the scenes where Juliette makes chocolate will make you crazy for it! I can't bear watching it without chocolate in my hands. In one place she makes this amazing hot chocolate that looks to me like melted chocolate. I have since tried to find such hot chocolate drink but to no avail.

So to me this is simply a movie about CHOCOLAT! How delicious!

A feel good treat that¿s better than the book
Last year, I reviewed the book CHOCOLAT by Joanne Harris. I'm happy to report that this film adaptation is even better than the print version. And how often can one say that with a straight face?

The film begins with a north wind blowing Vianne (Juliette Binoche) and her daughter Anouk (Victoire Thivisol) into a small French village at the very beginning of Lent, that pre-Easter period of time, which, in the Catholic liturgy, is dedicated to prayer and physical self-denial. It's not a good time for Vianne, an apparent non-Christian, to open up a chocolate shop across the town square from the church. But, she does so anyway, much to the dismay of the village mayor, the Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina). Reynaud is puritanically determined to shut the shop down, and Vianne is equally determined to keep it open. An irresistible force meets an immovable object.

CHOCOLAT, both the book and movie, is a whimsical comedy that blossoms as Lent progresses, and Vianne's shop becomes a place of healing and sanctuary for several of the town's troubled residents. Because Vianne's store is seen (by the local Church establishment) as diametrically opposed to the spirit of the season, the story can also be taken as a gentle fable of conflict between Christianity and paganism.

Juliette Binoche is exquisite in her role. (I think I'm in love.) Judi Dench is her usual superb best as Armande, an aged widow deprived of her grandson's company by an over-protective mother, Armande's own daughter (Carrie-Anne Moss). There's also a small role played by Leslie Caron. (Where's she been in recent years?) And Alfred Molina is positively brilliant as the uptight mayor, so dominant that he personally writes the Sunday sermons to be delivered by the local pastor, Fr. Henri, apparently only recently ordained and much in fear of the Comte. Johnny Depp has an engaging role as one member of a band of despised river gypsies just floating through.

One very good reason why CHOCOLAT the film is better than CHOCOLAT the book is the added dimension of visualization which the former imparts to several elements of the storyline, specifically the mysterious wind that blew our heroine into town, Anouk's pet Pantoufle, the delectable chocolates themselves (seductively arrayed in the shop window), and the climax of the conflict between Vianne and the Comte.

CHOCOLAT the film is one that will have the audience leaving the theater feeling good, and maybe wishing for a cup of Vianne's hot chocolate with a pinch of cayenne pepper. I can't recommend this cinematic gem enough.

FEAST AND FABLE
FEAST AND FABLE

Movie Review of Chocolat

Chocolat is a sumptuous feast for those with a cinematic sweet tooth. A single mother (Juliette Binoche) driven by the restless wanderlust of her Navaho mother's spirit, moves to a quiet French town with her six year old daughter and opens a chocolate shop in the middle of Lent, the Catholic fast before Easter. Her free spirited atheism enrages the sanctimonious mayor (Alfred Molina), and a battle commences for the hearts and minds of the villagers.

There is magic swirling around Binoche and her chocolatery, blurring the lines between real and unreal and giving the story the feel of a fable. However the gritty performance of Lena Olin as a battered wife keeps it from floating too far from earth. Swedish director Lasse Hallström (My Life as a Dog) once again paints a convincingly chilly portrait of small town life, aided by the capable acting of Binoche, Judi Dench and Johnny Depp in particular. Be warned, however, the real star of this movie is the chocolate. Don't go on an empty stomach or you may find yourself worryingly distracted from the narrative flow. The story is light on dramatic urgency, but the cast stirs in their own spicy fruit into the half-baked script and the result is delicious enough to satisfy the most gluttonous of appetites.

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