Turning his attention from apples to cocoa, Lasse Hallstrom follows up "The Cider House Rules" with "Chocolat," a charming confection of a comic fable graced by an abundance of delectable performances.
Based on Joanne Harris' recent novel of the same name -- in which the power of chocolate unlocks hidden yearnings in a staid French village -- the film is filled with the director's trademark humanity and his respect for strong literary imprints.
With a little of its marketing know-how, Miramax should see sweet word-of-mouth results. And concession counters should be prepared for the accompanying deluge. After subjecting audiences to two hours of mouthwatering temptation, they could probably sell the stuff by the vat.
Radiating an infectious joie de vivre, Juliette Binoche is perfectly cast as the itinerant Vianne Rocher, who lives her life seemingly according to where the north wind takes her. In this case, she blows into the quiet little village of Lansquenet with her daughter Anouk ("Ponette's" Victoire Thivisol) in tow.
It's the late 1950s, but as far as set-in-its-ways Lansquenet is concerned, it might as well be a century earlier. Setting up shop in a vacated patisserie, which she has transformed into an enticing chocolaterie guaranteed to satisfy any craving, Vianne quickly butts heads with the righteous Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina). The Comte is a zealot who regards the single mother with keen suspicion, particularly because she has chosen to open her store right in the middle of Lent.
Determined to shut down the outsider, the Comte attempts to launch a smear campaign against her. But Vianne's exotic wares have already begun to have a profound effect on several of the town's citizens, including her feisty landlady, Armande (the superb Judi Dench in another keeper performance), and Josephine (Lena Olin), the troubled and physically abused wife of a loutish cafe owner (Peter Stormare).
Meanwhile, Vianne finds a kindred spirit in Roux (Johnny Depp), an Irish-Gypsy river rat who drops anchor at the village's less-than-hospitable shores only to encounter the Comte's intolerant wrath.
In adapting the novel, screenwriter Robert Nelson Jacobs ("Out to Sea," "Dinosaur" and Hallstrom's upcoming "The Shipping News"), enhances the fable quality by shifting Harris' present-day setting back some 40 years, allowing the free-spirited Vianne to create a few more ripples in those repressed postwar waters.
While it may lack the emotional heft of Hallstrom's previous film, the director allows the lyrical story to unfold in beautifully measured beats. The more dramatic moments are given just the right weight, and the ample comedy is delivered with the melt-in-the-mouth pleasure of one of Vianne's decadent creations.
There are wonderful turns by Binoche, Dench and Olin, not to mention fine work by Molina, Thivisol, Carrie Anne-Moss as Dench's estranged daughter and a virtually speechless Leslie Caron as a career widow. Depp doesn't show up until halfway through the film, but he manages to make a fine impression. The performances are nicely captured by cinematographer Roger Pratt's gentle framing.
Costume designer Renee Ehrlich Kalfus dresses her leading ladies in smart period frocks that would have been stylish in any time period, though given the hot lights and all that chocolate, the dry-cleaning bills would have been pretty unattractive.
Thanks to Mike Kennedy for sending me this article which appeared in The Hollywood Reporter on December 8, 2000.