Chocolat (Wide Screen) > Reviews > What it is to be in love...

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	Good
Disadvantages:	not as good as it should have been

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Ah, Johnny, Johnny. We might as well get this bit out of the way at the start, for it was my primary reason for going to see this film. Yes, it's based on a lovely book. Yes, it's directed by someone really cool. Yes, it got nominated for tons of Oscars. What drew me into my local, and forced me to hand over my hard earned cash was none of these things: it was the presence of the utterly beautiful Johnny Depp. I have sighed over those cheekbones, those deep, deep eyes and that sculpted smile for years, an it's proved a remarkably beneficial obsession. His habit of going for interesting-arty over box office megabucks has meant that in pursuit of my celluloid love, I have en route discovered many films that I would otherwise not have glanced at twice. What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands.... fine movies all, and of course none the worse for Mr Depp's presence.

All of which brings me to this film, which I will in future be adding to the list above, for it is every bit as enchanting. The story is a fairy tale one, of a small French town in which self control is more important than happiness, appearances are all and outsiders are regarded with deepest suspicion. In fact, one suspects that even a more liberal town would be taken aback by the arrival of the mysterious Vianne, who in full fairytale form is blown in one winter day by the North wind, wrapped in a billowing red cloak and with a small but wise beyond her years daughter in tow.

Vianne announces her arrival by opening a chocolaterie, an enticing store of delights filled with her alchemic creations which whip cocoa and butter with Mayan magic and Vianne's ability to see into hearts, and offer to the bedazzled villages a range of bonbons that nurture the imagination as much as the stomach. Naturally, she is opposed: the opening of the chocolaterie coincides with the start of Lent and the town mayor - propriety incarnate - is outraged that she should be tempting his flock from their religious obligations.

So much for the story. I shan't say any more because it will spoil it. Suffice for now to say that the mayor proves to be motivated by more than piety, Vianne proves rather less good at understanding her own desires than she is at seeing everyone else's and the delectable Mr Depp eventually arrives - looking, it goes without saying, every bit as delicious as the bonbons in Vianne's shop.

And now to the film itself. The first wonderful thing about it is the fairytale element, which is ever-present without being overplayed. The opening reminds me of nothing so much as Edward Scissorhands (another fine Depp movie, of course) with the roofs of this pretty town, the snow, the swirling wind and the 'once apon a time' style voice-over. The voiceover appears intermittently throughout the movie, serving to provide narrative and pull us back to that fairy tale feeling, but is never intrusive. The appearance of the little girl's kangaroo right at the end, the fantastically higgledy-piggledy boat on which Depp arrives, these are touches reminiscent of Tim Burton if anything, and they succeed in keeping the story from tipping over from the fantastic into the mundane.

And there is the odd moment where it is in danger of this. The most grating thing - and I have to say it really did grate - is the script. I mean, we accept that because this is a Hollywood film, the french people in it can't possibly be allowed to speak French, and thank God they ditched the crap-french-accent option, but to see Juliette Binoche leaning lusciously over the counter of her chocolaterie in this French town, looking soulfully at a co-star and saying 'wanna tell me about it?' really made me wince. Likewise the way she says 'Sure', when anyone on this side of the atlantic would say 'Of course'. Into the same category goes the dodgy Irish accent sported by Depp, which is completely unneccesary and seems only to be there because someone decided that all river-travelling folk in Europe were of Irish descent.

But enough carping. Back to the good things about this film, the most notable of which is that it is a true ensemble effort. For once (and the makers of Captain Corelli's Mandolin could learn a thing or two here) a director has managed to take a book and not turn everyone except the romantic leads in to two dimensional stereotypes. Judi Dench as the grumpy old woman who owns the chocolaterie turns in a thoroughly professional performance, although she could do this kind of thing in her sleep and just occasionally, it shows. Lena Olin as the local madwoman Josephine who turns out only to be rebelling against her vicious husband does a marvellous job with her portrayal of Josephine's blossoming under the warming influence of Vianne. The mayor is beautifully played by Alfred Molina, who succeeds in making you pity rather than hate his character, the children turn in intelligent and understated performances and even the minor characters are given room to breathe.

And yet, and yet.... there is something missing here. I don't know what it is, and maybe when I figure it out I'll update. This should be a classic and yet just misses the mask. Is it because the material is too obvious and slightly overplayed? Is it because the parts really don't challenge the main players - with the talent that is in this movie, it could have been so much more - and too often they appear to be acting by numbers? Or is it simply because it's basically a delicate, arthouse film that - like Edward Scissorhands - would have benefitted far more from a lack of expectation, and is simply unable to sustain the pressure of all those oscar nominations and hype? I don't know. I'm just glad I didn't go to see it with any of those expectations, because I might well have been disappointed. As it is, all I was expecting was a chance to view our Johnny - which I got - and because I wasn't expecting it, I also got a whole lot more besides.