X
- 1989
- PG-13
- Orion Classics
- 1 h 45 m
- 1989
- PG-13
- Orion Classics
- 1 h 45 m
Summary A French woman returns to her childhood home in Cameroon - formerly a colonial outpost - where she's flooded by memories, particularly of Protée, her servant.
Written By: Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau
- 1989
- PG-13
- Orion Classics
- 1 h 45 m
- 1989
- PG-13
- Orion Classics
- 1 h 45 m
Chocolat
User Score
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Summary A French woman returns to her childhood home in Cameroon - formerly a colonial outpost - where she's flooded by memories, particularly of Protée, her servant.
Written By: Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
81
83% Positive
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
17% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
81
83% Positive
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
17% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The entire cast is superb, but special praise should go to De Bankole for his portrait of a life that simply isn't seen by those who have the greatest influence on it. It's difficult to imagine a more powerful and artfully assembled film about the limbo of those suspended between countries - or the suffering of those whose country is not entirely their own. [29 Mar 1990, p.C5]
Denis quickly immerses us in her voluptuous, allusive mode of storytelling.
Chocolat is as beautiful as it is solemn. It's a meditation on memory and on the nature of innocence in the face of great, irresistible change, but its glory is in the quiet development of its several characters. [12 May 1989, p.5]
Its interrogation of cross-cultural dysfunction and the colonialist legacy notwithstanding, Chocolat's foremost pleasures are visceral. Denis, even at this early stage, already seems attuned to film's power to suggest and seduce. Her debut emanates the effortless sensuality and sinewy elegance that have come to mark her movies, making it a sterling introduction to her cinema of sensation.
Moving like a dream that explodes into reality, Chocolat is blessed with superb acting, especially by its star, the African-born Bankole. His quiet eloquence and suppressed passion express the human cost of an unjust political system. [27 Mar 1989, p.68]
Director Claire Denis has attempted a meditative mood piece on the intertwined themes of colonialism and forbidden love. It's difficult, in fact, to tell which is the metaphor for which. But while the movie's tone is impeccably muted, and though its horizontally composed images are striking, and its dramatic rhythms are subtle and sure, there is something gnawingly simplistic in the conception. [12 May 1989, p.A]
First-time director Claire Denis (a Frenchwoman who lived in Africa as a child) wants us to know that colonialism is a bad thing. Would anyone care to argue the point? Like German director Wim Wenders (with whom she worked on Wings of Desire), Denis achieves some ravishing images but is committed to using a deadeningly static camera. [30 Mar 1990, p.16]
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Production Company
Cinémanuel,
MK2 Productions,
Cerito Films,
Wim Wenders Productions,
La Sept Cinéma,
Caroline Productions,
Le F.O.D.I.C. Cameroun,
TF1 Films Production,
Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC),
Sofima
Release Date May 1, 1989
Duration 1 h 45 m
Rating PG-13
Genres
Awards
National Board of Review, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Cannes Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
César Awards, France
• 1 Nomination
