Chocolat

Chocolat is a sinfully scrumptious bonbon about a nomadic single mom, Vianne (the delectable Juliette Binoche), who sweeps into a stubbornly quaint French village with her daughter, Anouk (Victoire Thivisol), and opens a chocolate shop. The time is the 1950s, and the tight-assed mayor, the Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina, a subtly fragile villain), doesn’t cotton to this candy femme tantalizing his villagers, during Lent yet. Director Lasse Hallström and screenwriter Robert Nelson Jacobs, working from Joanne Harris’s 1999 novel, assault intolerance with the liberating lure of chocolate. Quick to bite are Armande (Judi Dench), an ageing rebel estranged from her daughter (Carrie-Anne Moss), and Josephine (Lena Olin), the klepto wife of an abusive husband (Peter Stormare). Dame Judi hams it up royally, while Olin, Mrs. Hallström offscreen, deepens the film with a performance of raw emotion. A charming Johnny Depp drops in as Roux, an Irish gypsy who tempts Vianne. Although the film may be slight, don’t discount Hallström’s artful finesse. Chocolat is yummy.