Friday, January 5, 2001

PG-13

For some language, sensuality.

Comedy, Romance

Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, Johnny Depp, Judi Dench, Alfred Molina, Peter Stormare

Robert Nelson Davis

Lasse Hallstrom

Chocolat (2000)

When Vianne (JULIETTE BINOCHE), a mysterious stranger, and her child arrive in a tranquil French town in the winter of 1959, nobody could have imagined the impact that she and her spirited daughter would have on this community stubbornly rooted in tradition. Within days, Vianne opens a very unusual chocolate shop, filled with mouth-watering confections, across the square from the church. Her ability to perceive her customers' private desires and satisfy them with just the right confection, coaxes the villagers to abandon themselves to temptation. The resident nobleman and self-appointed leader of the town are shocked that Vianne is tempting the local townspeople with her delicacies. Fearing it will ruin his town, he pits himself against Vianne and tries to forbid anyone from entering her shop, hoping to run her out of town forever.

But when another outsider arrives, the handsome Roux (Johnny Depp), and joins forces with Vianne to liberate the town, a dramatic confrontation arises between those who prefer the ways of the past and those who revel in their newly discovered taste for pleasure.