Bitter-sweet as dark chocolateBeautiful story, beautifully done. There's not much to say about this movie. Just make yourself comfortable in front of the screen and enjoy some chocolate dessert.8/10

A fable of emotional liberation and chocolate. A mother and daughter move to a small French town where they open a chocolate shop. The town, religious and morally strict, is against them as they represent free-thinking and indulgence. When a group of Boat Gypsies float down the river the prejudices of the Mayor leads to a crisis.

Chocolat is a movie my wife picked out for us to watch together on a fall weekend evening on which we planned to sit on the couch cuddled together and spend a simple night of popcorn, movies, and enjoying some alone time together. She picked it out as the synopsis seemed to fit the mood of the evening planned. Indeed it hit it right on the mark! It is a unique story of a woman and her young daughter who live a nomad life style moving from town to town where she would open chocolate shops. She flies in the face of the practices of the average folks of the time and town, but made good friends and through simple acts of kindness won over friends and helped set people free of their inhibitions. I didn't expect to like it that much but wound up loving it. We now spend a weekend evening each fall watching the movie together, enjoying the simple yet quality story that has grown to be one of our favorites. You won't find a lot of movies like it, but that is part of what makes it so special and why I think it is a smart movie for mature audiences. Just a great couples movie that over time seems to be a little better each year we watch it!

Chocolat is a beautiful movie telling a tale of a newly arrived shop owner versus the established order in a Northern French village, post World War II. The movie also has sidebar stories of spousal abuse, difficult parent-child relationships, and romance. The movie has some quirky humour that brings comic relief to the misfortunes. The cast is outstanding with Juliette Binoche, the village's recently arrived chocolatier; Johnny Depp, as Roux another newcomer; and Judy Dench, as the free spirited grandmother who has been ostracized by the village and her own daughter. Leslie Caron has a minor role as one of three widows. Juliette Binoche plays a very warm and somewhat unconventional young woman who takes over a patisserie where she sets up a chocolate shop with flavours that disarm and delight everyone who tastes them. However, the village is not about to embrace the new entrepreneur; the village mayor dislikes anyone who threatens his petty tyranny and this includes the new chocolatier and Johnny Depp's group of merrymaking gypsies. When the small town bigotry turns violent, the village priest, a mere lad, finally breaks from the mayor's rigid code of morality that he has been all too willing to follow. Eventually the two sides in this battle collide. In the end, the chocolate becomes a decisive weapon in the village war. When the dust settles, the viewer can feel a sense of satisfaction in this well paced and thoroughly entertaining movie.