Chocolat (2000)

Chocolat was nominated for Best Picture of 2000, and its inclusion as one of the five best films of that year is as much a fairy tale as the film itself. The story concerns a mother and daughter who move to a quaint French village (aren't they all quaint in the movies?) and set up a chocolate shop. What could seem more harmless? However, even fairy tales must have complications. Vianne opens her shop across from a church, and she stays open on Sundays (even during Lent). Naturally, she slowly begins to win over a few of the villagers through her patience and understanding and the seemingly magical nature of her chocolate recipes.

Still, there must be resistance to Vianne and her non-conformist ways (for example, she does not attend church--oh, the horror!). Chief among those who oppose her is Comte Paul de Reynaud, the mayor, who seems to have made a life out of denying himself pleasure. As played by Alfred Molina, Reynaud seems almost like a cartoon villain than a real person, a trait he shares with many other characters in this movie. I kept expecting him to twirl his mustache the way that the villains in old silent films used to do.

Everything comes to a head when a group of "river rats" arrive on the banks of the river outside town. Vianne is, of course, very welcoming, and who can blame her when the head of the these outcasts is played by Johnny Depp in full rogue mode. They soon start up a romance, further inflaming the anger of the townspeople who have been opposed to her from the beginning. I mean, really, this woman has done some outrageous things, like trying to reconcile a grandmother and her grandson over the objections of a very uptight daughter/mother. But when she starts cavorting with such undesirable people as "river people," well...

I don't know that I really have to tell you how all of this ends. It's a fairy tale, after all, and you should be able to figure things out on your own by now.

I know there's a message in here about acceptance and allowing people to be different. I understand that it's important to make movies about tolerance and understanding. I just wish that they weren't always as predictable as this one, and I could wish that just once we didn't have to learn about how we should all be loving toward each other by watching beautiful people like Juliette Binoche's Vianne "suffer" as outcasts. Put an unattractive person in the lead and then we'll talk.

Just one warning: Don't watch this film on an empty stomach. There is such a love of food and the making of meals and treats that you will quickly become hungry. Try to avoid devouring everything in the refrigerator while watching. You will be tempted.