In 2000, Claude Chabrol, having turned 70 years old, was entering his last decade of life and cinematic career. ‘Merci pour le chocolat‘ (distributed in the English-language market under the rather funny title ‘Nightcap‘) was the sixth film in which he cast Isabelle Huppert, one of his favorite actresses. It would be the penultimate. Chabrol was and continues to be regarded as a disciple and follower of Alfred Hitchcock. In his films, the main heroines are women with icy allure who hide hot passions, and who better than Isabelle Huppert could play such roles? The film has many of the characteristics Chabrol is known for. It is a not-so-veiled critique of the morals of the bourgeoisie – the Swiss one in this case, the action taking place in and around Lausanne. It is a psychological thriller where the suspense is not created by the question ‘who committed the crime?’ but rather ‘Was there a crime?’ and ‘if yes, why was it committed?’. Finally, he abounds in reverence to his masters – Fritz Lang and Hitchcock. It’s one of those Chabrol films (about half of his filmography) where I get the impression that the French director wanted to continue the filmography of the British master in the French-speaking world.
The film begins with a civil marriage ceremony, with few participants, but all handpicked from the wealthy class living on the shores of Lake Léman. It is actually a re-marriage. Mika Muller, the heiress and CEO of a prosperous chocolate factory, and the famous pianist André Polonski are getting married again after being separated for 18 years. During this time, he had experienced another marriage from which Guillaume had been born, a boy out of adolescence who does not quite know what to do with his life. André’s second wife had died in a car accident, after an evening all spent with together with Mika. The three live in a villa on a mountain coast which resembles the motel in ‘Psycho’, especially since Chabrol films it in such a way that he makes sure that spectators don’t miss the hint. Their peaceful life, sweetened by the cups of hot chocolate prepared by Mika, is disturbed by the appearance of Jeanne, a young girl born on the same night and in the same maternity as Guillaume, who had just discovered a strange story: at birth there had been the suspicion that the two babies were were exchanged between them. Does she want to infiltrate André’s life? Or maybe she just wants to benefit from his music lessons, as she is also a very talented pianist? Maybe the fact that the girl is so gifted musically is not a coincidence either.
In life and in movies, family relationships (‘blood links’ as they say) are in most cases an axis of stability. Not in ‘Merci pour le chocolat‘. Paternity relationships are uncertain and DNA testing has not yet entered the arsenal of forensic experts and movie writers. Jeanne may be André’s daughter, but then Guillaume is not his son. Even though Jeanne is the daughter of the mother who raised her, she will find out that her father is not the one she adored (and who had also died) but an unknown donor. Even Mika, the rich heiress of the chocolate empire is an adopted daughter. To what extent does heredity determine the talents, destinies and behavior of each of the heroes? In one way or another, each of the film’s characters is in an identity crisis or is involved in the crises of the others. The screenplay adapts an American novel written by Charlotte Armstrong and published around the middle of the 20th century. The artist André Polonski is a pianist in the film and not a painter, as in the novel. This change introduced by the screenwriters allows the director to create a soundtrack based largely on the piano music performed by the heroes. Franz Liszt’s ‘Marche funebre’ in several different interpretations has an important role. Jacques Dutronc amazes me in almost every film I see him in with his acting talent, and I don’t know whether or not to regret that he didn’t act in more films, because that would have meant less composing and performing, or I also like him a lot as well as a musician. Anna Mouglalis is excellent in the role of Jeanne. She is a beautiful and talented actress. Why didn’t she become one of the screen stars in France? Finally, what can be said about Isabelle Huppert, except that she is fantastic as almost always and that the role suits her perfectly? As in many of Chabrol‘s films, the suspect and mysterious woman is a master of drugs and poisons. In this case everything is mixed in chocolate, with milk, of course. Yes – milk that reminds us of ‘Suspicion’ or ‘Spellbound’. However, Hitchcock is not the only master who is quoted. In which other film does the female suspect present one of the potential victims with a DVD of a Fritz Lang film as a present?