Chocolat

Lasse Hallström can create a somewhat romantic atmosphere, or a little-town idyll. What was missing in most of films of his that I’ve seen is the necessary emotional power, or perhaps the magic, that can leave a lasting impact on a person. Chocolate is the first one that has somewhat succeeded in this. It is impossible to resist comparing it to the similarly romanticized The Cider House Rules, which, despite its sunny shots and “cute” faces, had almost no emotions and ended up labeled as “overly sweet”. Chocolate is just right, considering its name, it even has a slightly bitter taste at times. Nevertheless, it maintains an irresistibly romantic mood throughout, full of good-hearted individuals of all ages and the fact that a woman's heart can possess the same amount of strength as ten sumo wrestlers. (11/12/2007)

A lovely film that will make you as feel good as eating a chocolate treat. Binochet is sweet (from a male perspective), Depp is sweet (from a female perspective), the story rather bitter, but the milky part is waiting at the end. The problem with the film's chocolate is that its flavour wasn't distinctive enough to make me want to revisit it after a while. Which is something that can't happen to me with normal chocolate :) Therefore "only" for four rum truffles. (25/12/2003)

Such a nice, sweet, and fragrant film - no wonder, as it contains so much chocolate... Of course, Chocolate can be read as overly polished and with a happy ending, it is evidently an oversweetened movie, but that's just how director Hallstrom is, you can't expect a dark film from him. And once in a while, it doesn't hurt to indulge in sweetness or a romantic movie of this kind. Especially when it stars Julliete Binoche and Johnny Depp... Overall impression: 85%. (20/06/2006)

Definitely not a movie to give out free with the purchase of a 3-pack of candy bars... which is how it ended up in my hands. So I put it on, thinking it was a cheap movie. It somewhat surprised me, but really only somewhat. Maybe I'm just biased, which is why I'm going to watch it again. For now, 3.5 stars. (11/02/2011)

Chocolat is a small-big European America. The author of the original has French-British roots, while Swedish director Lasse Hallström again uses his favorite actors (Johnny Depp, his own wife - Bergman's Lena Olin) and was soon to also include Judi Dench among his favorites. Everyone was enchanted by Juliette Binoche, but I enjoyed Carrie-Anne Moss much more. The atmosphere of the film foreshadows Amelie, even though it takes place in the French countryside 15 years after the war... Anyway, I find it fascinating that Joanne Harris gradually wrote two more novels about Vianne Rocher. (30/03/2023)