An
indie film set in
France in the late
1950s, starring
Juliette Binoche and
Johnny Depp, among many others. Binoche plays
Vianne Rocher, a woman who, with her daughter, arrives in a small
French village, where everyone knows their
place and stays in it
like it or not. There, she sets up a
chocolate shop. Because she sells such
decadent goods, and refuses to attend
church, she offends the
sensibilities of the town's
mayor, the
Comte de Reynaud (played by
Alfred Molina.)
This is exacerbated by the fact that
Rocher has a gift for composing
chocolate concotions with an almost
medicinal effect, unlocking people's
desires and threatening to
loosen them up. A classic
struggle between
spontaneity and
uptight white men ensues.
The movie is truly beautiful. The story is of course more complicated than I've described, with Rocher falling in love with a river rat (Roux, played by Depp) and mediating a family struggle that spans three generations. The setting is lovely, and the photography takes advantage of the charms of such an old village and the surrounding countryside. And of course there's the constant sensuality of chocolate, with Mayan mysticism thrown into the mix.