Chocolat

Comedy, Drama, Romance

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

Director	Lasse Hallström
Producer	Alan C. Blomquist; David Brown; Leslie Holleran
Writer	Joanne Harris; Robert Nelson Jacobs

With movies like Chocolat, it's always best to relax your intellectual faculties and absorb the abundant sensual pleasures, be it the heart-stopping smile of chocolatier Juliette Binoche as she greets a new customer, an intoxicating cup of spiced hot cocoa, or the soothing guitar of an Irish gypsy played by Johnny Depp. Adapted by Robert Nelson Jacobs from Joanne Harris's popular novel and lovingly directed by Lasse Hallström, the film covers familiar territory and deals in broad metaphors that even a child could comprehend, so it's no surprise that some critics panned it with killjoy fervor. Their objections miss the point. Familiarity can be comforting and so can easy metaphors when placed in a fable that's as warmly inviting as this one.

Driven by fate, Vianne (Binoche) drifts into a tranquil French village with her daughter Anouk (Victoire Thivisol, from Ponette) in the winter of 1959. Her newly opened chocolatier is a source of attraction and fear, since Vianne's ability to revive the villagers' passions threatens to disrupt their repressive traditions. The pious mayor (Alfred Molina) sees Vianne as the enemy, and his war against her peaks with the arrival of "river rats" led by Roux (Depp), whose attraction to Vianne is immediate and reciprocal. Splendid subplots involve a battered wife (Lena Olin), a village elder (Judi Dench), and her estranged daughter (Carrie-Anne Moss), and while the film's broader strokes may be regrettable (if not for Molina's rich performance, the mayor would be a caricature), its subtleties are often sublime. Chocolat reminds you of life's simple pleasures and invites you to enjoy them. --Jeff Shannon