Chocolat at Wahnfried

At Wahnfried

On Friday 9th at 5pm in celebration of Johnny Depp’s birthday we have CHOCOLAT (2hrs) also starring Juliette Binoche, Judy Dench and Alfred Molina.

1960, small town France. Vianne Rocher and her young daughter Anouk move into town and open a chocolate shop just as Lent is beginning. The town's small-minded Mayor Comte de Reynaud can't accept this and does his best to shut her down, but her warm personality and incredible chocolates manage to win over many townsfolk. Things get shaken up even more when a group of river drifters, led by Roux, stop into town (to the even greater distress of the Mayor) and Vianne takes up with him. Meanwhile, she's been helping Josephine Muscat out of her abusive marriage, and her equally freethinking landlord, Amande Voizin, get together with her grandson, Luc, whose mother, Caroline, doesn't approve of Amande's ways.

Chicago Tribune critic Michael Wilmington called Chocolat "a delightful confection, a cream-filled (and slightly nutty) bon-bon of a [...] tantalizing, delectable and randy movie of melting eroticism and toothsome humour." He felt that the film "is a feast of fine actors – and every one of them is a joy to watch." Similarly, Peter Travers from Rolling Stone declared the project "a sinfully scrumptious bonbon [...] Chocolat may be slight, but don't discount Hallstrom's artful finesse [...] Except for some indigestible whimsy Chocolat is yummy." Roger Ebert, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, gave the film three out of four stars. He found the film was "charming and whimsical, and Binoche reigns as a serene and wise goddess." New York Post's Lou Lumenick called Chocolat "the soothing cinematic equivalent of a warm cup of decadently rich cocoa," led by "melt-in-your-mouth performances" from Binoche, Molina and Dench.