Chocolat (Wide Screen) > Reviews > Sweet Like Chocolate

Author's product rating:   

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

Advantages:	Tempting, Wonderful Performances, Great Looks, Passable Story
Disadvantages:	Shallow, A Little Fake,

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Chocolat is the story of Vianne, a lonely traveller who wonders from place to place with her young daughter Anouk. When they find themselves in s small French town, Vianne decided to open up a chocolatiere, but her small business causes huge ripples throughout the Catholic villagers. Is she some sort of witch? When Vianne starts to make friends with the abused Josephine and persuades her to get away from her aggressive husband people see that as another sign that she is out to make trouble. With the parish leader planning to close her business and Irish travellers entering the town, the residents have to face their morals and ideas head on….

Chocolat requires you to suspend your disbelief maybe a little bit too much and for more cynical viewers it may be a torturous cinematic experience; with its mushy romantic edge, rather serendipitous occurrences and the idea that chocolate can change peoples lives. But, if you are prepared to stick with it you will find a gentle, affectionate, warmly crafted little drama/romance which has some pretty important things to say. It's a story about how good people can make a difference, how nobody deserves to be judged and how a little energy and resourcefulness can change a whole town. It's an idealist film, but the films pleasures don't come in its moral messages, or its often blatant button pressing, they come in the small attentions to detail; in its warmness, its life and humanity. The film works as a dream like alternative to the realism that faces the town; this allows the films powerful themes to seep through the sweet vanilla fog that makes up the movie, without tainting the idyllic tales innocence. One of the main selling points of the movie is its French rural setting, which gives the film an intimacy and lightness; the cobbled streets, crooked buildings and fiery villages hark to a part in all of us that wants to get back to the way 'it was'. I will admit that I was expecting more when I sat down to watch this, and I was a little disappointed that the film didn't leave a lasting impression, but taken for what it is, it remains a tempting, involving and good natured example of enchanting story telling.

The most disappointing thing about Chocolat for me was its inability to make me really feel for its characters, I never felt I was going on a journey with them, rather just watching them travel through their lives. I was very conscious that I was watching a film, and had this nagging feeling throughout that everything was a bit superficial, the film never emerged as truly realistic or ever completely engaging. I just felt it took itself just a step too far into hippy dippy romanticism and the second half lost the reality that made the first hour so entertaining. The problems start to arrive with Depp's Irish traveller; he changes the dynamic of the story and stops the steady flow the film builds up. This character is badly developed, underwritten and his relationship with Vianne feels contrived and unconvincing. I didn't care about their romance and found myself much more interested in the fate of Josephine and her friends than Vianne -this didn't happen when I read the book- which is a shame because up until the half way point she proved to be a most witty and enthralling leading lady. Also the novelty begins to wear a bit thin after a while; there are only so many ways you can use chocolate as a metaphor and the screenplay becomes a bit repetitive and plodding towards the end. However it does reach a pleasing enough conclusion that isn't very original and extremely predictable but rounds the film off in a pleasant and uplifting way.

Where Chocolat does work is the places where it simply is just itself, when it examines the ordinary, everyday things; Vianne pouring a mug of spicy cocoa, the women laughing, Josephine learning to create chocolates, Anouk playing with her friends. Yes, Chocolat is at its best when it is 'nice' it doesn't need to take on heavy subjects or challenge morals, it needs to be about living and loving which fortunately for the most part it is. When the film is at its best it really makes a case for itself as one of the most seductively charming dramas of the decade, it has poise and elegance, humour and wit with an easy confidence and wry intelligence that puts it far ahead of most others in its genre. It perfectly mixes rural French sensibilities with more polished Hollywood product, keeping the pleasing quietness and allure of French filmmaking with the accessibility and sheen of contempory Hollywood. This works as it gives the story more credibility and substance and it also allows for the kind of nostalgia that will make audiences forget about the films flaws, if this is your kind of thing, if you revel in old world/French/post war dramas then there is more than enough here for you to like. The setting is quaint and richly recreated; the cinematography has a real feeling of authenticity, the pace is slow but gentle enough to keep fans interested and its nostalgic atmosphere will no doubt place this of many people list of favourite films.

I can't help but think Chocolat is a little too easy. Characters do dreadful things and find their redemption just a little bit too freely and quickly, damaged people going through pain but see the light within the space of a few hours, the whole story feels a little bit too idealistic and paint by numbers. Some may argue that this is part of the films magic, but I just saw it as laziness and felt cheated by the characters ultimate development, everything ends just a little bit too neatly. However there are enough plot twists in the screenplay to keep people engaged and the characters are interesting enough to make you invest in them. The screenplay has some rich dialogue and the interaction between the main players is always the highlight of all the scenes, you get a real sense that the scriptwriters put a lot of effort into the words of Chocolat, each sentence sounds just right and each response meticulously crafted, it is a shame then they don't contribute to a stronger story arc. In paying so much attention to the little things the script writers start to loose grip on the more substantial elements of the plot, it all gets pulled from underneath them by the last frame.

Juliette Binoche is wonderful as Vianne; she is gorgeous and has a real screen presence and poise, she has star quality and a ferocious talent that drives all her performances. Here she really shows the strength and confidence that make her role such a successful character, Binoche portrays warmth and humanity with a lot of gusto. She really des light up the screen with her infectious smile and makes her scenes highly watchable, she also gathers a lot of believable chemistry with all of her co-stars. I am not sure that this performance deserved the Oscar nomination (Binoche is capable of much more) but she does prove herself to be one of the most engaging romantic leads working in films today. Johnny Depp is lumbered with a bad character and does very little to improve upon him; I have never found him very convincing in romance stories and wasn't very impressed with his mediocre performance, in this he doesn't seem to have the energy or presence to really pull the -already weakly crafted- character work. Lena Olin is a brilliant actress, really one of the most talented women working in main stream Hollywood, she entered the hit show Alias and completely changed the programme around, and she is never anything less that wonderful in Chocolat. She plays the abused Josephine and is heart breaking, utterly convincing and really quite engaging. Judi Dench is also her usual wonderful self here (what can you say about her that hasn't already been said?)

I could write a big long list of all the films flaws and it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference, I could shout out all the things that make the film bad until I'm blue in the face, but the truth is that it wouldn't matter, Chocolat is so very charming, so self assured and so utterly uplifting that it is nearly impossible not to fall head over heels in love with it. It's powerful and seductive and so full of optimism that the cracks don't seem as emphasised as they perhaps should; the nagging feeling that the film shouldn't work disappears with the magic and luxury of the proceedings. It has all the qualities of chocolate itself, its sweet; it's a little overrated but most of all it is familiar and comforting. For fans of the genre I can see how Chocolat is regarded by many as a masterpiece, for the rest of it may be a bit of a let down, but its still enjoyable entertainment.

You can buy Chocolat from Amazon.co.uk for £6.97 ASIN: B00005LDBH or from their marketplace for around £5.00 I am sure that on Ebay you can probably pick it up for much cheaper. If you enjoy the film you can buy the accompanying book from Amazon for £6.99 ISBN: 0552998931