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Wed. Feb. 7, 2001
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Art & Culture > Movie &Theatre > Archive
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Movie Review: Chocolat
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Chocolatis a story about a society where tradition is etched in stone, and one person sets out to confront it. Lasse Hallstrom directs this colorful depiction of the fight against blind tradition and ritualistic conformity in which the star, a woman, wanders into a deeply conservative Catholic town in France and battles against forces that want her out because of her apparent "deviant qualities."
Overall the film is superb, with a strong message that goes home with the audience; however at times the chocolate does get a little bitter. It begins with an introduction of two travelers, Vianne (Juliette Binoche) and her daughter Anouk (Victoire Thivisol), walking in the path of the north wind. In the dull and colorless setting, their bright red cloaks make them stand out like two sore thumbs, suggesting early on that some sort of nonconformity has just blown into town. They look for the first place that they can rent and find a vacant patisserie belonging to a stubborn, grouchy old lady named Amande Voizin (Judi Dench).
Vianne begins converting the old run-down place into a beautiful chocolaterie. Voila! We enter a sequence of cinematic artistry showing the art of chocolate making. Chocolate is swirled, twirled, dipped, filled, shaped, and baked. So much chocolate is made, and the process so well illustrated that one thinks of only two words - any milk? Unfortunately, there wasn't any for customers.
There is a problem, however, with the timing of all of this chocolate hysteria and its invasion of the little French town; this all happens during Lent, the Catholic fasting period right before Easter, when the townspeople are abstaining from their desires and pleasures. Yet, here comes a devious outsider who opens a chocolate shop featuring all kinds of tasty delicacies right in the middle of the season.
Mayor Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina) quickly pays the shop a visit to see what she is all about. He invites her to church but finds out that she does not attend services, leading him to believe that she is a social deviant, and a nonbeliever. However, he welcomes her to town.
He goes on, though, to assume the mission of stopping at nothing to put her store out of business. Using the local priest as a pawn in his mischievous game, he edits and revises every sermon to assure that everyone conforms to the town's traditions. The priest (Hugh O'Connor) reads the mayor's sermons and tries to dissuade the townspeople from supporting deviants such as "the chocolate lady," although no direct reference to her is made.
At one point in the film, we see a close-up of the mayor lip-synching the exact words of the sermon as the priest reads it. As the town's dictator, he vehemently strives to ensure that the traditions of his forefathers are upheld while the townspeople never question why they abide by these traditions.
Although Vianne has no intention of dissuading them from their religious conservatism, the mayor (whose character is well developed) maliciously carries out a war against her as he implements his authoritative rule. Yet, his attempt to uphold rituals without a firm and valid idea of why only leads to their destruction - Vianne and her chocolate become the symbol of questioning blind conformity, bringing some light to a people who have become accustomed to doing things only as they've been done them before.
Through the powers of her chocolate and her loving and warm nature, Vianne is able to heal the wounded. She helps save a battered wife (Lena Olin) from her abusive husband (Peter Stormare). The mayor himself takes on the job of re-civilizing the husband and turning him into a gentleman so that he can go back to his wife. Yet, to no surprise, he is unable to do so - the husband ultimately returns to his true self after being rejected by his wife. As well, the mayor soon finds himself losing the battle against "the chocolate lady" and her new allies.
And what ever is going on with actor Johnny Depp through all of this? He and his gang of "river rats," also representing social outcasts, happen to suddenly stop along the riverbank of this small town. And in the process, a relationship develops between him and Vianne.
It seems that Depp's appearance in the film is more a marketing strategy than having any reasonable relevance to the story line. It would have flowed just as well without him; perhaps, though, to a smaller audience.
Chocolat delivers a subtle and poignant message about the consequences of blind tradition and ritualistic behavior - although, perhaps, not as powerfully as it could have or with award-winning caliber. The film is rated PG-13 with a running time of about two hours flat. There are implicit sexual references and a few brief sexually explicit scenes; however, there is little violence and no profanity.
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