Once upon a time in a small town in France descended chocolate – chocolate swirled, chocolate cake, milk chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, hot chocolate, chocolate dreams – in a movie called "Choclat."
And the town was never the same. The provincial, little village had proceeded in its ways for centuries, as small villages anywhere are apt to do, until chocolatiere Vianne ( Juliette Binoche) and her six-year-old daughter Anouk (Victoire Thivisol) come to town and open a shop right across from the church. And in the middle of Lent!
Vianne rents the shop from crusty old Amande Voizin (Judi Dench) and proceeds to seduce the village with the aromatic chocolate, thought by some to be an aphrodisiac. She engages the wrath of the town's overbearing, self-righteous mayor Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina), and the gradual friendship of the town, much to the mayor's chagrin.
Then throw into the mix a charming, guitar playing river rat Roux ( Johnny Depp). Now, all at once and humbly, who could ask for anything more? Judi Dench just sitting in a straight-back chair doing nothing, would add immeasurable class to any film. Surrounded by this film's talent, she, and the rest of the cast, are unbeatable by all reports.
Not a film for chocoholics unless they're muzzled. From Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom (The Cider House Rules, My Life as a Dog), it is rated PG-13 for a scene of sensuality and some violence.
It is playing at Sunny Isle Theaters.