Chocolat

TheAuthor · Site Admin Joined: 25 Mar 2006 Posts: 698

BET YOU DIDN'T EXPECT THAT ONE

I've actually been very curious about this movie since it's release a long time ago. It had the air of a fun little faux-foreign movie without the nuisance of being a chick flick like "Under the Tuscan Sun" (yes I saw that too).

The basic plot is a mother and daughter move into a super-narrow minded conservative French town and open a chocolate shop across from the church the week of Lent (for those atheists who didn't bother reading up on what they are ignoring, Lent is when devote Christians/Catholics give up a or all vice/s and temptations [depends HOW devout I guess] until Easter). You can imagine the stares this duo got. But through the power of delicious chocolate, Vienne, the mother, slowly convinces the town to loosen up a bit. However, the mayor, Count de Reynaud, will have none of it.

The movie surprised me. I thought "oh the mayor is seduced by Vienne's chocolate and BAM, resolution", but not so. There is NO chemistry between the two. Not even the kind fangirls pick up on for OC couples. Nothing. There are a lot of hardships for Vienne to figure out. First of all, everyone in the town has a secret that chocolate seems to be helping. For instance, the count's secretary forbids her son and his grandmother to meet. Vienne's landlord is said grandmother. She invites both of them over at the same time for different reasons. The boy because he is a talented artist and the grandmother because the chocolate seems to loosen her up. There is also a married couple who aren't enjoying marriage so much that some almonds seem to fix QUITE fast. Need me sommadoes...ahem.

Johnny Depp is in this movie and plays a pretty neutral uninteresting part as Roo, a vagabond who shows up in town with a group of other wanderers that, of course, are shunned by the village. I don't piss myself over Johnny Depp. I didn't even know he was in it. But it's one of the most forgettable appearances I think I've seen him play. "Hello, I have a ponytail and a dobroe...watch me play!"

The worst part of this movie is the aftermath. I want so badly to drive uptown and buy out a chocolate factory's truffles. Other than an insatiable craving for chocolate, it was a good movie.

I recommend this movie to people who aren't expecting wild car chases, sex, violence but don't want to have to deal with mushy goo-goo girly BS. Get your Hersheys on standby.