An unmarried woman and her young daughter arrive in a conservative French town, and set up a chocolate shop, selling a wide variety of tempting treats made from secret Mayan recipes. Her behaviour upsets the mayor, who does all in his power to turn the village against her. However, she is such a sweet person that she soon makes friends. Then some Irish river gypsies arrive, causing more consternation in the town, while she finds herself very attracted to one of them...
120 minutes, Parental Guidance
Romance, On the Art Circuit
Ian Douglas: The Oscar nominations ensured a very full press preview for this. I thought it good, but not *that* good to win the Best Movie award. The film may appeal more to women, as the men are not painted very sympathetically, while the women take the lead in all the action. The heroine is almost sweeter than her chocolates, which upset some of the American critics.
Andre Mes (31): What a wonderful film! I fell in love with the characters from the first moment. Binoche and Dench are superb, as is Olin and Moss, who I hardly recognised at first, she was so different to her Matrix charcater. What amused me was the simpleness of the villagers' lives and their ignorances to the outside world, even for the late 1950s. And that chocolate .... aaaaw! Maybe no masterpiece, but one of the best films of the year!
Simone Eichler (25): My father laughed through out this movie and we all left with smiles on our faces and an uncontrolable urge to eat chocolate.
