Chocolat (2000) 8/10

Starring : Juliette Binoch, Lena Olin, Johnny Depp, Judi Dench, Alfred Molina, Peter Stormare, Carrie-Anne Moss
Director : Lasse Hallstrom
Running Time : 116 mins

Vianne Rocher (Binoche) mysteriously shows up in a small devoutly Catholic French village in the late 1950s and opens up a chocolate shop in the middle of the season of Lent, much to the anger of the mayor, the Comte de Reynaud (Molina), who desperately tries to bad mouth her around town. Unfortunately, the rest of the village folk - particularly the women - don't find the shop so objectionable, and soon start partaking of Mme Rocher's confectionaries.

This is a silly little movie which makes the idea of liking chocolate seem like a mortal sin, with Binoche portrayed in part as the suave devil of the piece, tempting people with her chocolate without even breaking a sweat. Molina is wonderfully understated as the town mayor who fights tooth and nail to prove that his religion is superior to the newly opened chocolate shop, with Olin's battered wife being both maniacally over the top and calmly soothing.

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