Binoche not only presents Vianne as a dazzling enigma but also illuminates the brave and lonely woman behind it Molina’s count is a maddeningly pious prig, but his basic impulses are actually well-meaning, and he too is basically a lonely man.ĭench and Olin have been given richly evolving roles to play, and neither could be better.
Thus, “Chocolat” represents an inspired collaboration between director, writer and cast to bring dimension and depth to its people, resulting in a raft of some of the year’s most glowing performances. “Chocolat” is the human comedy in the form of a fairy tale, and as such, it takes formidable skill and judgment to pull off the slightest misstep, and the whole thing collapses.
On one level, “Chocolat” is quite serious on another it is equally droll, and its sterling cast easily handles its shifting moods. What concerns the filmmakers is religious practice that condemns rather than forgives, that excludes rather than includes. But when the handsome river rat Roux (Johnny Depp) drops anchor, you know there’s going to be big trouble ahead. Ever so gradually, Josephine is reborn as a woman and regains her looks in the process.
Terrified to the point of incoherence, Olin’s Josephine goes on to blossom in her new circumstances indeed, so haggard and ragged is the woman that we at first don’t realize it is Olin, an enduring beauty of the international screen. On a far more controversial note, Vianne has given shelter and work to the long-abused wife (Lena Olin) of the local tavern keeper (Peter Stormare). While remaining feisty in her heart, Armande has mellowed and become Vianne’s friend. Her hot cocoa has eased the pains of her landlady, an independent soul long at odds with the community.
British tavern keeper crossword free#
There is something downright pagan about the subversive power of her chocolate there’s got to be a story about her that she does not care to reveal, but when all is told, she is a free spirit prepared to stand her ground against the count, who would like to send her on her way-just as his ancestors did with the Huguenots.ĭespite having been declared an undesirable by the count, Vianne attracts admirers. Vianne does not hide that she is an unwed mother and refuses to attend church. The village is inviting, yet it is actually a somber place in the grip of a puritanical religiosity. We realize the mysteries that concern the filmmakers are those of the human heart. Vianne is a woman of mystery, and just as we’re beginning to wonder whether there’s something sinister about her or her chocolates, the film’s perspective widens and deepens. He quickly views Vianne as the enemy, especially because her chocolates seem to possess unusual properties, capable of curing or easing various ailments and restoring passion to stale marriages. The count rules the town as did his ancestors, setting an example of piety. The townspeople are entranced, but the town’s grand seigneur, Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina), is not amused that Vianne should open her doors with the advent of Lent. Vianne rents a dusty, long-unused pastry shop from cranky old Armande Voizin (Judi Dench) and with breathtaking dispatch transforms it into an enchanting chocolaterie. You feel as if you have entered a Dutch or Flemish Old Master landscape. On a wintry day in 1959-it could just as easily be 1859 in this unchanging French town-a beautiful woman, Vianne Rocher (Juliette Binoche at her most ravishing) and her small daughter, Anouk (Victoire Thivisol), come upon an ancient stone village perched high on a promontory over a river, bordered on its other side by vast, spectacular fields. It seems as French to the core as it seems very much the work of Hallstrom, whose gift in bringing outsiders in from the cold has shone in such cherished landmark films as “My Life as a Dog,” “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” and “The Cider House Rules.” It was filmed in English (by superb British cinematographer Roger Pratt) with a multinational cast under the exquisitely subtle and shaded direction of Swedish-born Lasse Hallstrom, who has Jean Renoir’s gift of embracing people in all their follies and strengths. A fable of deceptive simplicity, adapted for the screen with mature skill and wisdom by a young American screenwriter, Robert Nelson Jacobs, from Joanne Harris’ novel, it emerges as a splendid work in the grand humanist tradition of the classic cinema of France, where it takes place. “Chocolat” is as delectable as its title, but for all its sensuality it is ultimately concerned with the spirit.
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