Chocolat (1989)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Sorry, this movie sucks

Good movie but grossly overrated

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The story is about a little girl growing up in colonial Africa, but it is so much more than that.Anyone growing up in the South would experience the same things. A longing for another, one of a different race, that cannot be consummated. Even a glance is forbidden. There are no words needed. Their facial expressions say everything.It is the story of a black servant, Protée (Isaach De Bankolé) and a white woman, Aimée (Giulia Boschi). Their desire for each other is so strong that they torture each other because they cannot have each other.The little girl, France (Cécile Ducasse) is lonely and spends all her time with Protée. She really can't see this dance.One of the more irritating aspects of the film is the laziness of the colonials. They cannot even get undressed for bed by themselves. There world is about to end; they just don't know it yet. Their racist attitudes will be erased with their presence.I think I would like to visit this Africa. It seems so quiet; especially at night when you only hear the animals.

To whom it may concern:After having read a few reviews and just seen the film, these are my thoughts. I agree that the film portrays and plays off of the white/black dynamic, but to be more precise, I think that it reinforces the exotification of black and African men by white women. Protee is definitely a stoic character in the movie, but to say that that makes the movie good is not necessarily justification enough for me. Rather, I was more concerned than anything that at the end of the movie I was so moved by a production that in retrospect perpetuates stereotypes about the black/white dynamic and does little, if anything, to empower any of the black characters. Basically, I feel like it only romanticizes the the relationship of Aimee and Protee thereby giving implicit acceptance to the power dynamic inherent between the two of them. As I said earlier, however, it did "move me." But as I earlier, it was the production; the acting, rather than the story itself, that moved me, and to confuse these two is what concerned me most. I'm sure there are a lot of "well-meaning" people out there who liked this movie, and it does have good acting, but all I have to say is switch the characters around-make Aimee the character in a position of less power and give that power to Protee and all of a sudden it's going to be a much less acceptable, interesting, and realistic to a lot of people. It's a good story, apparently semi-autobiographical, but skews the race picture much to the satisfaction of the privileged folks who are paying to see it.

The box cover read nothing but how this film was full of passion and erotic over tones. Over tones? There weren't any Under tones let alone over tones! Yes, the story has obvious moments of forbidden passion between the French woman and the "black" slave / servant, but nothing goes beyond that.The entire movies leads up to expectations and then goes nowhere. If you look close, you can see moments of symbolism, but nothing terrific. Chocolat isn't French New Wave, but it is a french film. Besides there being a number of French characters in the film that nobody can relate with, you got a French Housewife that has nothing else to do but order her "slave" around. I said it before and I'll say it again, Chocolat has as much passion that your average funeral does. Whether for 1988 or 2004, you need moments of sexual tension other than a simple touch to be considered exotic for the audience.

Claire Denis's Chocolat is a beautiful but frustrating film. The film presents a very interesting look at the household of a European colonial family living in Cameroon, giving the viewer an informative perspective on the lives of many characters and their interaction. However, the development of these characters is often maddeningly insufficient. For example, a central theme in the story is young France's inability to form strong relationships with others. Although this portrayal is executed flawlessly, notably in the way that Denis frames the story with scenes from France's return to her childhood home, the girl's lack of intimacy with the film's other characters makes it difficult for a viewer to invest much interest in her development (or lack thereof) as a protagonist. The general stagnation of the film's character development makes it difficult to become engaged in the loosely organized plot. The film raises a great deal of tension between characters, particularly between Aimee and the men in her life, but never fully addresses this social friction, leaving the viewer unsatisfied. The final few scenes are powerful but depressing. Denis's work is certainly interesting from an intellectual and historical standpoint, but if you are looking for a film with adventure or drama, Chocolat is definitely not the best choice.