Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Chocolat Blu-ray Movie Review

Tasty.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 14, 2011

The sweet seductive allure of chocolate has an almost magical ability to whisk people away into fantasy lands of paradisiacal perfection. Don’t believe me? Look at any kid having their first bite of a chocolate bar or hot fudge sundae. That willing surrender to the pure, lascivious power of food is central to the incredibly charming Lasse Hallström film Chocolat, but of course the central idea the film espouses is something a good deal more general. Chocolate may be the means to spiritual liberation in Chocolat, but it’s the end, the liberation itself, that makes up this film’s piquant point of view. Juliette Binoche plays free spirited single mother Vianne Rocher, who more or less wanders into an incredibly idyllic French village in the late 1950’s and has the audacity to set up a chocolate shop directly in the midst of the great annual “festival” of self-deprivation, namely Lent. That single-minded decision, perhaps or perhaps not so innocent, sets Vianne immediately at odds with an incredibly repressed set of villagers who exist in a world of superstition, recrimination and, lest it not be obvious, a complete and utter lack of anything overly tasty, literally or figuratively. Chocolat is a morality tale, to be sure, and while it may not be overly subtle, it is easily one of the most evocative, charming and effortlessly ebullient films of the past decade or so, a film that has no grand pretensions but which manages to touch some significant truths about the human condition and perhaps not so coincidentally the attractions of the cocoa plant.

While there’s nothing especially innovative about Chocolat—after all, films where a free spirit liberates a slew of uptight folks are a dime a baker’s dozen—this is a film which creates a very magical ambience from virtually its first scene and is able more often than not to sustain that magical feeling even when the plot occasionally visits the predictable nook and cranny. Vianne may be a chocolate covered savior, and her putative charges a teeming mass of one dysfunction after another, but under Hallström’s firm but pliant and expressive leadership the film is unquestionably evocative and emotionally resonant. The parochial world of small town late 1950’s rural France is shown to have its unseemly elements, especially with regard to wife beaters and, later in the film, violent bigots, but the overarching feel of the film is actually one of whimsy and ultimately the triumph of saving grace.

A film like Chocolat basically boils down to a charm offensive and as such is more dependent than usual on its performances. Since there’s little doubt that Vianne’s expertise in interpersonal relationships and the art of crafting chocolate delicacies will overcome virtually all obstacles, there’s little if any real suspense in Chocolat, despite Hallström and scenarist Robert Nelson Jacobs' attempts to inject occasional conflict. Instead we’re confronted with a motley crew of disparate characters, and it’s really in these little character moments that Chocolat really finds its most flavorful essence.

Binoche has never been lovelier than she is in Chocolat, an enticing mix of a steely temperament mixed with a very real vulnerability. The supporting cast is uniformly excellent, including a great blustery turn by Alfred Molina as the village’s gentrified Mayor who can’t quite believe the world is changing right before his very eyes. Hallström’s wife and frequent collaborator Lena Olin also is excellent as the put upon abused wife helped by Vianne. Carrie-Anne Moss does nice work as the church organist with her eye on the Mayor, and the ineffable Leslie Caron has some great moments as an elderly widow whom Vianne attempts to hook up with an elderly village male. And the ever dependable Judi Dench is also on hand, perhaps doing her patented crusty elderly woman shtick, but still managing to create a believable and ultimately lovable character. Finally, Johnny Depp does surprisingly well in one of the film’s slight missteps in terms of tone and casting, playing Roux, a visiting gypsy (yes, gypsy) who invites the villagers’ disdain while causing some romantic sparks with Vianne.

It’s in fact in the third act, once Roux and Vianne become “an item,” that Chocolat gets a bit heavy handed. While the bulk of this film plays like a fable or fairy tale, despite its many characters’ quirks and foibles (some of which are a bit on the unseemly side), it’s not until we’re thrust up against something approaching a mob mentality that Chocolat seems to just slightly lose its way, devolving into a sort of cliché-ridden third act trauma that seems even more unnecessary when it, like so much that has gone before, becomes more or less easily solved with, to horribly mangle a phrase, the wand of Vianne’s whisk. Chocolat works best as a slight fantasy, and though its emotional center runs mostly true throughout the film, too much focus on the ugliness in the human condition works against the film in the long run.

What ultimately saves Chocolat is the same factor that is so redolent of its title product, namely its unbelievable sweetness. This is a film without overly grand ambitions which nonetheless manages to touch on several salient issues with regard to the human condition, wrapping it all up in a flavorful soufflé that is alternately tart and sugary. If the film is a bit flowery at times, it’s a refreshing kind of childlike hyperbole that casts the entire film with an appealing gentleness that makes it hard not to love.

Chocolat Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Chocolat has always had a pretty soft looking image, and this new Blu-ray's AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1 doesn't really do much to alleviate that aspect. Everything is just slightly fuzzy almost all of the time, but then, rather strangely, a really sharp scene or two will crop up, even more oddly in that it tends to be at the chocolate shop rather than one of the outdoor, more brightly lit, moments. Colors here are also just slightly drab and even desaturated at times, though they are a good deal more robust than in the previous DVD release of the film. Crush is fairly evident in a lot of the darker scenes and digital noise shows up in a few of these dimly lit scenes as well. This is a bit of a disappointment, but truth be told, my hunch is virtually all of these anomalies are present in the source elements and not due to an overly shoddy transfer.

Chocolat Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Chocolat's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track may not be bombastic, but it's an elegantly rendered track that features wonderful music by Rachel Portman, clear and precise dialogue and a number of very well positioned sound effects. That whimsical north wind which Vianne's daughter ruminates about throughtout the film filters through the surround channels with appealing directionality, and Portman's evocative score also is very well distributed around the soundfield. The entire track in fact has a very appealing spaciousness, somewhat ironic considering the claustrophobic confines of the small French village where Vianne and her child find themselves. The balance between dialogue, effects and score is artfully handled, fidelity is excellent and dynamic range is also very good throughout the film.

Chocolat Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Making of Chocolat (SD; 28:41) starts with a quasi-trailer and then gets into some of the nuts and bolts of what it took to adapt the original source novel to the screen. This featurette offers a lot of interviews with cast and crew.
• The Costumes of Chocolat (SD; 4:20) looks at the simple but elegant costume designs of Renee Ehrlich Kalfus.
• Production Design Featurette (SD; 7:57) does similar service for the film's location shooting as well as contributions made by Production Designer David Gropman.
• Deleted Scenes (SD; 7:11) features several short snippets, including a couple of interesting extra character beats for Lena Olin's put upon character and her abusive husband.
• Audio Commentary with Director Lasse Hallstrom and Producers David Brown, Kit Golden and Leslie Holleran is a very interesting commentary with excellent interplay between the participants. A lot of information about the subtext of what might appear to be a fairly thin premise is explored, and a lot of very interesting information about the film's adaptation and production is also included.

Chocolat Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's rather interesting that Lionsgate is releasing new Blu-rays of Chocolat and Amélie on the same day, for despite their apparent differences, the two share certain similarities. Both are cast in a fable like way, and both feature heroines who go around fixing things right and left. But while Amélie exults in its magical fantasy world, Chocolat tries to tread a somewhat more realistic path, to fitful results. Some of this film is too predictable for its own good, but ultimately the film overcomes its slight issues to deliver a really beautifully realized and surprisingly emotional look at changing mores and interpersonal relationships. The cast here is what saves the material, and it's a stellar cast indeed. The production design is also incredibly evocative, and while some aspects of the film may strike some as silly, overall Chocolat is as tasty as its titular candy. This Blu-ray is an improvement on the DVD, but it still offers a pretty soft image which may bother some videophiles. Nonetheless, this release is Recommended.