Based on a popular novel by Joanne Harris, the film indulges in a graceful satire about cocoa rapture as a rhyme for emotional liberation. Take a bite of the most exotic chocolate one can imagine, Chocolat reminds us, and life stops for a moment. The ecstatic shock to the tongue briefly overrules our daily burdens of repression and regret.
It is sometime in the 1959 and in the tranquil French village of Lansquenet, everyone knows what’s expected of them, and if they forget, Comte de Reynaud (ALFRED MOLINA), the town’s mayor and moral bastion, is there to remind them. With Lent just beginning and a new priest, Pere Henri (HUGH O’CONOR), have only just recently arrived at the local church everyone attends, Reynaud has his hands full leading the town by example and writing Henri’s sermons.
Vianne Rocher (Juliette Binoche) a single mother and spiritual gypsy arrives into a small French village accompanied by her sweet and lonely young daughter, Anouk (Victoire Thivisol), Vianne transforms a dusty storefront into an elegant chocolate shop, flaunting the community’s dreary self-denial. .
Despite official resistance, Vianne gradually wins over sceptical locals with her intuitive approach to matching customers with the confection they precisely need: a thick, hot cocoa drink stirred with chilli spice for a humourless widow (Judi Dench), a bag of chocolate-dusted beans to re-ignite the passion between tired spouses, a rose-coloured treat for an abused wife (Lena Olin). In each case, the inarguable splendour of Vianne’s candy is like the kiss of a handsome prince upon sleeping beauties.
When a travelling band of Irish gypsies, led by Roux (JOHNNY DEPP), arrive by river, Vianne discovers a kindred spirit while Reynaud, whose wife is on an extended vacation abroad, becomes more agitated by what he sees as yet another immoral outsider attempting to corrupt his people. As Vianne takes in Josephine after Serge beats her one too many times, and becomes romantically interested in Roux, she does what she can to divert Reynaud’s efforts to drive her out of the village, while her irresistible confections awaken the villagers’ hidden appetites and longings.
Carrie-Anne Moss proves that she can do a credible job in a non-science fiction movie. The scene-stealer in Chocolat is Alfred Molina, who goes all out to create a character from the caricature he is presented with on paper. Watching Molina is one of the few delights associated with an overlong motion picture that offers too few pleasures.
The story is perfectly pleasant. A little bit of sweetness in a movie, as in life, can be a pleasant thing.
The movie draws parallels between chocolate, sex, and life, but the connection is so obvious that it’s not interesting to mention, let alone discuss. What a surprise, that those who give in to their passion for chocolate suddenly have fulfilled lives.