Chocolat (Wide Screen) > Reviews > BETTER THAN SEX

Author's product rating:   

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

Advantages:	Good Story, Good Acting
Disadvantages:	Makes you want chocolate

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Chocolate is desire, chocolate is sin, chocolate is passion, chocolate is medicine, chocolate is magic. Or at least it is in this film adaptation of Joanne Harris’s best-selling novel.

Before I start this review I have to admit that I have not read the novel and so I will not try and make direct comparisons between it and the film version. This is purely a review of the DVD and I have judged the film on its own merits.

THE STORY

On a stormy winters day in late 50’s France a woman wearing a bright red cloak and a child arrive at a small sleepy village. They are there to set up home and business in the old patisserie, which has now closed down. They have rented the property off an embittered old woman called Armande Voizin. We soon discover that the two strangers are mother, the free spirited Viande and young daughter Anouk. They have lived a nomadic life wandering around Europe form Italy to Spain settling done only briefly in each place. From the very first they begin to arouse interest and suspicion amongst the villagers. Vianne is an unmarried mother and not ashamed of it, she seems carefree in her approach to life and does not attend Church. The newcomers plan to open a chocolaterie in the village but soon fall foul of the puritanical mayor the Comte de Reynaud who objects to their lifestyle and to such a establishment opening at the time of a religious festival of lent, a time when he believes good folk should be avoiding temptation and indulgences in favour of quiet contemplation and abstinence.

The village is not a happy place, the Comte and his family before him have been the moral guardians and head of the local community for generations he seems to exert a stifling influence over the people and controls the actions of the young and newly appointed priest. The locals are wary of showing any criticism of the Comte or the Church and have succumbed to hiding their feeling and desires behind closed door in fear of being found out.

However Vianne slowly befriends some of the more open minded and less happy villagers like Josephine the abused wife of the local barman and the grieving widow Madame Audel. She uses chocolate each recipe individually created for a different need, to help them to liberate themselves.
The Comte begins to see Vinade as a evil temptress in league with the devil and when she befriend some visiting Gypsies led by the enigmatic Roux he decides something has to be done to rid the village of her evil influence.

CAST PERFORMANCES AND OPINION

Juliette Binoche .... Vianne
Judi Dench .... Armande Voizin
Alfred Molina .... Comte de Reynaud
Lena Olin .... Josephine Muscat
Johnny Depp .... Roux
Carrie-Anne Moss .... Caroline Clairmont
Antonio Gil-Martinez .... Jean-Marc Drou
Hugh O'Conor .... Pere Henri
Hélène Cardona .... Francoise 'Fuffi' Drou
John Wood .... Guillaume Blerot
Harrison Pratt .... Dedou Drou
Peter Stormare .... Serge Muscat, Cafe Owner
Gaelan Connell .... Didi Drou
Victoire Thivisol .... Anouk
Aurelien Parent-Koenig .... Luc Clairmont
Ron Cook .... Alphonse Marceau
Elisabeth Commelin .... Yvette Marceau
Guillaume Tardieu .... Baptiste Marceau
Leslie Caron .... Madame Audel

Directed by

Lasse Hallström

Writing Joanne Harris (original Novel) and Robert Nelson Jacobs

This is a magical film, beautifully shot, sublimely acted and cleverly scored. The story has elements that remind me of the magical realism in books by Italo Calvino or Gabriel Garcia Marquez. There is a mystery about the central character she is almost a mystic using chocolate instead of herbs potions and spells. 'Chocolat' is obviously only a symbol for desire. It serves as means to re-awaken long lost passion for life and for a wish to liberate oneself from the strictures of stifling tradition. The idea of the Chocolaterie being opened just in time for lent emphasizes the dilemma that the villagers feel between a sense of devotion to tradition and their inner desire to be themselves and to free themselves.

Set in the late 50’s or early 60’s a time when the older accepted morality was about to be challenged by a newer more liberal outlook on life that was to become the most contentious cultural debates of the following decade. The village and the story that unfolds is really an expression of a wider debate that was going to happen all around the western world.

It is obvious from the outset of the film when we se the community gathered in the church, the young priest delivering a harsh sermon that all is not what it seems, beneath this pious display of reverence to tradition and a higher authority there are doubts and hidden desires.

Several different stories are interwoven around the opening of the chocolaterie but essentially they are all about the need for people to break free from limitations that are mostly of their own making. The temptation provided by chocolate and Vianne's character is not evil but serve as trigger for people to realise this freedom by making a choice. Every character in the film goes through this change and emerges the better for it.

This film is awash with brilliant acting performances. Julliette Binoche is perfect for the role of Vianne, providing a balanced mixture of passion, mystery and earthy sexuality, I am a fan! Her character is in apparent control of her destiny and she seems to be driven by her own belief in tradition and history but even she is to an extent trapped by her nature and because of her daughter she begins to doubt the purpose of her life. Binoche is excellent at translating these complex emotions to the screen and just like her performance in The English Patient she manages to captivate the audience throughout.

Vianne’s nemesis is the Comte again wonderfully played by Alfred Molina. Since his early success in ‘Prick Up Your Hears’ Molina has not really done himself justice as a screen actor and apart from an inspired cameo in ‘Boogie Nights’ he has failed to impress on more occasion than he has succeeded but this performance represents a real return to form. He manages to convey the fragility of the character and the inner turmoil that he is facing with minimal effort.

Judi Dench as usual show her acting skills as the lonely Armande who has been estranged form her daughter and grandson. Although suspicious at first she becomes a natural ally of Vianne and some of the best moments in the film are the interactions between the two women.

The Swedish actress Lena Olin also the director’s wife is very good as the abused wife who is transformed by Vianne’s presence.

The other major star of the movie is Johnny Depp although his is really a secondary role. He play the Roux the leader of a group of traveling river gypsies that faces the same prejudices and distrust from some the villager as Vianne. He is also Vianne’s temptation and the only person that she cannot seem to decipher on first meeting them. Despite a strange Romany/Irish accent (which might be realistic, I’ve never met an Romany/Irish gypsy before) Depp is good value in his role. He is suitably sensual and brooding in a carefree way and supplies the right amount of lingering looks to Binoche to make their on-screen suppressed passion believable.

One more thing to mention is the atmospheric music provided by tracks by the likes of Sidney Bechet, Duke Ellington, Hoagy Carmichael and Django Reinhardt giving the film a suitable period feeling. All the major characters have also distinctive musical tags to them that encapsulate their nature and subliminally set the mood whenever they are on screen. The original music is composed by British born Rachael Portman and an extensive if not exhaustive music samples from the film can be found on the soundtrack CD.

The final thing to strike me about the film was the sumptuous sets and locations that really helped to create the right atmosphere and bring the story to life.

THE DVD

The DVD package is good. Apart from the disc we are given a small booklet fitting neatly in to the DVD box that tells us the story of ‘Chocolat’, background to making the film and a history of chocolate. Also included are fairly extensive cast bios. These topics would normally be provides as part of the special features on the disc (an some are present there as well) but it is nice to have a hard copy to leaf through as a companion to watching the film.

The DVD itself gives you high quality anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. The look and sound of the DVD is excellent.

SPECIAL FEATURES

‘The Making of Chocolat’

This 30 min documentary is well worth watching it covers all aspects of the making of the film, casting, choice of location, music, extras, short interviews with all the cast members and production team and a potted history of chocolate.

‘Audio Commentary’

Audio commentary of the film with director Lasse Hallstrom and producers David Brown, Kit Golden and Leslie Holleran. It is worth listening to this since the film is heavy on symbolism and it is interesting to hear the original ideas for the scenes as well as some explanation on how the original ideas from the book have been dealt with.

‘The Costumes of Chocolat’

A short feature explaining the realisation of the costume designs by Renee Ehrlich Kalfus

‘Production Design Featurette’

With David Gropman this short documentary tells us how the film came to be made in the small village of Flavegnie inn the south of France. All aspects of hoe the look of the film in relation to the natural surrounding are gone in to and it provides some very interesting background to the film. Interesting details are given about the films making for instance we find out that Juliette Binoche trained in a top chocolate shop in Paris to get a feel of what she had to be seen doing in the film

‘Deleted Scenes’

Seven deleted scenes are included, interesting insight on how the final film might have benefited from inclusion of these scenes. It’s instructive to see some of these scenes and they do tell you more about the intended relationship between some of the characters and it does change your view of them or at least more fully explain their actions.

OVERALL

This is an easy to watch film, a cinematic fairytale that touches on some serious themes. There are some nice comic moments that will amuse as well as some more disturbing scenes that help to ground the film in reality. It is a bittersweet tale but on the whole it leaves you feeling good.

While watching have that box of luxury Belgian chocolates you’ve been saving (and the one you love) handy!

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You can buy ‘Chocolat’ from
Amazon for £18.99 (+ p & p) or from DVD.co.uk for £14.99 (including p & p)

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© Mauri2003