MOVIE REVIEW

Chocolat  (2001)

Starring: Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp, Judi Dench, Lena Olin
Director: Lasse Halstrom
Rating: PG-13

Studio: Miramax

Review Posted: 4.19.01

Rating: 3/4

By Michael Brendan McLarney

"A Delectable Treat"

Ah, liberalism. I cannot think of a concept that seems to go hand-in-hand with motion picture storytelling better than that one. While those with deep-seeded conservative viewpoints can certainly make a case that a liberal bias in the mass media does indeed exist, I don't necessarily think it's due to a Clinton-esque hidden agenda to rid the world of morality. Rather, it just seems to me that the idea behind the very concept of liberalism translates better to movie and television screens. I'm not saying all liberal viewpoints hold a greater degree of solace or effectiveness ... they just seem to play better in movies.

Although I don't know if ultra-liberal director Lasse Hallstrom would be quite as even-handed. A ripe raconteur of magnanimous tales among which lie "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" and "The Cider House Rules," Hallstrom thrives in the art of utilizing liberalism as the backbone of his narrative art. His protagonists are generally people trapped in an existence engulfed by some form of oppression, searching hard for something new, something different ... something to awaken their souls and invigorate their dormant spirits. By contrast, the antagonists in his films are those who on some level maintain the rigid atmosphere surrounding those who wish to break free.

While the above description makes his films sound dark and foreboding, his latest effort, "Chocolat" is a light comic fable elevated by an atmosphere of pure whimsy.

Riding a wave of rigidity, the traditional French village of Lansquenet is the kind of place that revels in its bucolic alliteration from one day to the next ... very little changes. Then one day, the fateful North Wind, on its aeolian journey across the country, blows through the town and in the wake arrives a young traveler named Vianne Rocher (Juliette Binoche) and her daughter, Anouk (Victoire Thivisol). Vianne plans to open a chocolaterie which at first, wouldn't seem to be a thriving business in a village the likes of Lansquenet. But the tenacious traveler possesses a unique gift ... a magical ability to perceive anyone's private desires immediately upon meeting them for the first time. Soon, her delectable creations are awakening the hidden passions previously locked deep inside the villagers. Naturally, an enemy emerges from the shadows, fearing that which he doesn't understand and questioning the morality of unleashed hidden desires. He is the Compte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina), and engages in tactics to shut down the chocolaterie, thereby perserving (in his mind) the towns previously undisturbed morality.

While Vianne's creations have made some in the town needlessly suspicious of her motives, they have a positive effect on other village folk, including the seventy-year old libertine Armande (Judi Dench), whom she rents the business space from and eventually helps to reunite her with her estranged daughter Caroline (Carrie Ann Moss); the long-suffering Josephine (Lena Olin), whose life of despondency has clearly taken its toll, having endured all the physical and mental abuse she can take from her brutish husband (Peter Stormare); and the intriguing, mysterious riverboat traveler Roux (Johnny Depp), living a similar kind of displaced life and who eventually unlocks Vianne's own desire to be accepted without suspicion.

"Chocolat" is the kind of light fable that glows with colorful characters, here embodied by actors skilled enough to display the kaleidoscopic character traits in a simple yet vivified manner. At the center lives an endearing performance from Juliette Binoche, portraying a character sweet as the treats she concocts, but one who still must learn to trust her feelings, allow herself to acknowledge her own need to belong, and stand firm to those who wish to maintain the encumbering atmosphere surrounding her.

Perhaps I drew too much of a pseudo-political comparison with my opening paragraph, discussing liberalism's more natural placement within the art of moviemaking. There are no issues, agendas, or statements here ... merely a gentle fable dealing with liberalism in its most rudimentary form; acknowledging the need for change, admiring the benevolence of generosity, praising the virtue of tolerance, and reveling in the joyous notion of belonging.