Chocolat [Blu-ray]

Director: Lasse Hallstrom Lasse Hallstrom

Overview

The most tempting of all sweets becomes the key weapon in a battle of sensual pleasure versus disciplined self-denial in this comedy. In 1959, a mysterious woman named Vianne (Juliette Binoche) moves with her young daughter into a small French village, where much of the community's activities are dominated by the local Catholic church. A few days after settling into town, Vianne opens up a confectionery shop across the street from the house of worship -- shortly after the beginning of Lent. While the townspeople are supposed to be abstaining from worldly pleasures, Vianne tempts them with unusual and delicious chocolate creations, using her expert touch to create just the right candy to break down each customer's resistance. With every passing day, more and more of Vianne's neighbors are succumbing to her sinfully delicious treats, but the Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina), the town's mayor, is not the least bit amused; he is eager to see Vianne run out of town before she leads the town into a deeper level of temptation. Vianne, however, is not to be swayed, and with the help of another new arrival in town, a handsome Irish Gypsy named Roux (Johnny Depp), she plans a "Grand Festival of Chocolate," to be held on Easter Sunday. Based on the novel by Joanne Harris, Chocolat features a distinguished supporting cast, including Judi Dench, Lena Olin, Carrie-Anne Moss, Peter Stormare, Hugh O'Conor, and Leslie Caron.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/27/2021
UPC:	0191329203262
Original Release:	2000
Source:	Miramax
Language:	English
Time:	2:01:00
Sales rank:	5,291

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Juliette Binoche	Vianne Rocher
Johnny Depp	Roux
Carrie-Anne Moss	Caroline Claimont
Judi Dench	Armande Voizin
Alfred Molina	Comte de Reynaud
Lena Olin	Josphine Muscat
Peter Stormare	Serge Muscat
Leslie Caron	Madame Audel
Victoire Thivisol	Anouk Rocher
Hugh O'Conor	Pere Henri
Aurelien Parent-Koenig	Luc Claimont
Antonio Gil-Martinez	Jean-Marc Drou
Helene Cardona	Francoise Drou
Harrison Pratt	Dedou Drou
Gaelan Connell	Didi Drou
Elizabeth Commelin	Yvette Marceau
Ron Cook	Alphonse Marceau
Guillaume Tardieu	Baptiste Marceau
Michele Gleizer	Madame Rivet
Dominique MacAvoy	Madame Pouget
Arnaud Adam	George Rocher
Christianne Gadd	Chitza
Marion Hauducoeur	Gati
Esteban Antonio	Thin Grizzled Man
J.J. Holiday	Musician
Malcolm Ross	Musician
Ged Barry	Musician
Tatyana Yassukovich	Storyteller
John Wood	Guillaume Blerot
Rachel Portman	Composer

Technical Credits

Robert Nelson Jacobs

Kerry Barden	Casting
Alan C. Blomquist	Executive Producer
Stuart Brisdon	Special Effects
David Brown	Producer
Kit Golden	Producer
Leslie Holleran	Producer
Billy Hopkins	Casting
Anthony Hunt	Special Effects
Meryl Poster	Executive Producer
Suzanne Smith	Casting
Harvey Weinstein	Executive Producer,Executive Producer
Lasse Hallstrom	Director
Robert Nelson Jacobs	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

This modest but handsome Chocolat enchants viewers with its whimsical charm, beguiling characters, and unerring insights, while providing the best English-language vehicle to date for the luminous Juliette Binoche. Binoche portrays a peripatetic single mother who arrives in a sleepy French village and establishes a chocolate shop during Lent. She displays a remarkable facility for sensing the moods of customers and finding confections to match, but the sensuous appeal of her products is lost on the town mayor (Alfred Molina, who’s never been better), an uptight soul who believes she will undermine his authority. Johnny Depp, as an Irish riverboat gypsy, supplies a leading man of sorts, but Chocolat is really an ensemble film, and his contribution is no less important than those of Molina, Judi Dench (playing Binoche’s irascible landlady), and Lena Olin (as an abused wife who works in the shop). Director Lasse Hallstrom (The Cider House Rules) resists the temptation to make his film a full-blown allegory, but he also refuses to allow the story’s realistic elements to overshadow its mystical ones. Every bit as tasty a confection as the ones Binoche makes onscreen, Chocolat is smooth, sweet, and satisfying.

Barnes & Noble - Ed Hulse