Chocolat is a pleasure for the eyes, a feast of decadent visuals with tasteful costumes, sets and of course, edible delights. The most wonderful thing about this movie has to be the cast, headed by the beautiful Frenchwoman Juliette Binoche as Vianne, a nomad who travels with her daughter and sets up shop in a tiny French village. She is somewhat of a rebel, who doesn't go to church and believes in giving into the desires an passions most people restrict, especially during the holy time of Lent. As Vianne tries to survive the tense and strict society in which she dwells, she comes across various people all with different desires and pleasures, including Judi Dench as a bitter old woman, Carrie-Ann Moss as a strict and upright mother and Lena Olin as a wife with an unsteady home life.
All changes for Vianne when Roux,a handsome riverboat wanderer played by Johnny Depp shows up on the shore. He is more of a nomad than she and he inflicts in her desires she never thought she had and soon is beginning to get a taste of her own medicine. Despite this rather stocky and formulaic plot line, the movie is quite enjoyable though not completely satisfying. It dances with ideas about forgetting your moral conscience and giving into every desire, which I am sure cannot be helpful to anyone. Perhaps I am misjudging it, but it seems almost as if the movie is more interested in simply showing the power of the chocolate than the actual process involved in making a change in your life. It does have elements of fantasy, which I don't mind, but I find it hard to mix fantasy with reality and make it work all the way.
Despite its shortcomings, this is a sweet and spicy delight with a top-notch cast, some gorgeous sets and costumes, and some interesting twist on chocolate recipes. It makes for a great escapist movie, a place I'm sure we all wish we could go to.
All changes for Vianne when Roux,a handsome riverboat wanderer played by Johnny Depp shows up on the shore. He is more of a nomad than she and he inflicts in her desires she never thought she had and soon is beginning to get a taste of her own medicine. Despite this rather stocky and formulaic plot line, the movie is quite enjoyable though not completely satisfying. It dances with ideas about forgetting your moral conscience and giving into every desire, which I am sure cannot be helpful to anyone. Perhaps I am misjudging it, but it seems almost as if the movie is more interested in simply showing the power of the chocolate than the actual process involved in making a change in your life. It does have elements of fantasy, which I don't mind, but I find it hard to mix fantasy with reality and make it work all the way.
Despite its shortcomings, this is a sweet and spicy delight with a top-notch cast, some gorgeous sets and costumes, and some interesting twist on chocolate recipes. It makes for a great escapist movie, a place I'm sure we all wish we could go to.