Much like his later film The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014), Lasse Hallström's Chocolat is a breezy, airy, inoffensive film about people who traverse major impasses in life via devotion to food. But whereas in The Hundred-Foot Journey food is seen as a connection to cultural heritage and one's family, in Chocolat food is straight-up magic: it can spur on women to leave abusive husbands; solve "marital problems"; conquer bigots; ease family tensions; rejuvenate an entire town. Make no mistake: Chocolat is a fairy tale. But, as previously mentioned, it's a breezy, airy, inoffensive one. Roger Pratt's cinematography strikes a fine balance between being overtly stylistic (note the red outfits worn by Juliette Binoche and her daughter) and obnoxiously overstated.
7/10
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