‘Chocolat‘ (2000) is one of those very successful films that I should have seen at their time and that somehow I missed, caught up in the whirlwind of my previous lives. I kept putting it off, but now its turn has come. It’s a film that I probably would have been much more enthusiastic about at the time, and I can understand why a lot of people liked it then, but watching it now I felt a little disappointed.
Swedish director Lasse Hallström had his first brush with fame in the 1970s, when he directed most of ABBA’s videos, including a feature-length one about a world tour of the then-most popular pop band known in the world outside England and the United States. A few feature films in his native country followed that were successful enough to attract the attention of critics and festival organizers. Invited to work in the United States, starting with the mid-80s, he made most of his films from there. ‘Chocolat‘ is one of his most famous films, an international success with an outstanding cast, a feel-good movie that exemplifies what was best in films of this kind produced by American studios (Miramax in this case) but with international themes, filming locations, actors and technical teams, but also draws attention to several weaknesses that made many of these films ‘pleasant’ but not exceptional productions.
The story takes place in 1959 in a picturesque French village, placed on a cliff by a river. On a blizzard night with the winds blowing from the north (the north wind will return at key moments of the story), a woman and her little girl, dressed in red hooded cloaks, arrive in the village to rent an abandoned shop in the square from the center of the town, opposite the church. In a few weeks, the woman, who goes by the name of Vianne, proves to be hardworking and skilled and manages to transform the place into an attractive chocolate shop, the likes of which had never existed before in the village. Vianne is also a good connoisseur of customers’ tastes and personalities, managing not only to guess what kind of candies or exotic chocolate-based drinks suit each one, but also to understand what their problems and pains are, offering to help The problem is that we are in the fasting period before Easter and the opening of a chocolate shop may tempt the parishioners of the Catholic town, and besides, Vianne doesn’t even go to church. Between the woman who had opened the chocolate shop and the mayor, who is the descendant of the counts who had ruled the village, a conflict arises and grows proportions that make it seem difficult to reconcile. The appearance on the outskirts of the village of a community of gypsies who came by boat on the river further complicates the situation, putting the conservative inhabitants of the village in contact with a foreign way of life, which seems to them a threat.
The story of the film can be seen as a variant of a social conflict between the traditional way of life (Catholic with feudal overtones) and secularism, between puritanism and the pleasures of life. A French film based on the same plot would probably have looked quite different. The Hollywood approach, however, seemed inauthentic and too Manichean from the beginning, which made the final twist seem forced, even for a ‘feel good’ film. However, many of these minuses are compensated by the acting interpretations and especially by the formidable creation of Juliette Binoche, who radiates beauty and kindness, in one of those roles of a woman you can’t help but fall in love with, roles that only a few great actresses can create: Audrey Hepburn or Audrey Tautou, the latter with her formidable role in ‘Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain’, a film similar in many respects, made a year later. A few more great actresses contribute with outstanding creations: Judi Dench, Carrie-Anne Moss, Lena Olin. We also get to see Johnny Depp as a character that predates the series of negative roles that would follow in his career. Alfred Molina plays the negative role of the count, a character that seems coming straight out of a Buñuel film, but drawn too thickly and unconvincing in the final conversion. Finally, the Irish actor Hugh O’Conor plays the role of a priest just out of adolescence, so far from the context that I was not sure if it was a brilliant creation or just mis-casting. The film is beautifully shot, the music adds charm (with manouche jazz tunes and some sequences with Johnny Depp on guitar), but I felt that the ending dilutes even more the sharpness of what we saw before. If Juliette Binoche and Audrey Tautou are on the same level, the film ‘Amélie’ far surpasses in emotion and authenticity what ‘Chocolat‘ offers. Too much chocolate consumption is risky, we all know that.