No, this is not about the great chocolate you can get from Williams-Sonoma, or the kind you melt in milk to make a drink that soothes, comforts and warms.
It is about a movie. No. You are wrong again. It is not about the Johnny Depp-Juliette Binoche movie Chocolat. Though I would not mind seeing it sometime.
It is about the other movie, Chocolat. The one I got from Netflix one time when I thought I was ordering the other Chocolat. I did not live to regret it. (I did live. I did not regret it.) I liked this movie so much, I brought it to my parents' house, and sat through it another time. I was overwhelmed. They were underwhelmed. And that is one crux with this movie. Many of the viewer reviews on Netflix were lukewarm. Roger Ebert and I thought it was great.
The film begins with a woman in her thirties hitchhiking a ride in Northern Cameroon, in French West Africa. Her name is France, and she is returning to Mindif, a remote outpost where she lived with her parents Marc and Aimee in the 1950's, in the twilight of colonialism.
It was there that she grew up, under the watchful eyes of her parents and the houseboy, Protee. Protee teaches her games and language. To eat the inedible and to accept nature's cruelty. Protee takes care of Aimee and France when Marc is travelling to other villages.
The other thing that takes place in this movie is the gradual exposure of the sexual tension between Aimee and Protee, both strikingly beautiful individuals who are drawn to one another, a yearning that was so taboo in the place, in the time, in the mistress-servant relationship.
I kept waiting for one of two things to happen:
1) The uprising of the Blacks and massacre of the Whites. With machetes.
2) The capitulation of Aimee and Protee to their almost overwhelming desires.
Neither did, which is why some critics found this movie to be too languid and slow-paced.In truth, it was. There was the introduction of a houseful of odious colonials, brought together through the mechanism of a plane crash, leading to many other interpersonal entanglements.
But for me, the attraction was the lush and gorgeous scenery. I don't mind a slow plot if a movie gives me something to enjoy along the way, and this one did. The scenery, the small vignettes all made this a pleasurable 105 minutes.
When toward the end, Aimee finally acts on her feelings for Protee and he rebuffs her, I was disappointed--frustrated, I guess. And the fallout from their actions impacted on France for the rest of her days.
This movie is not without significant flaws. And it was in French with subtitles. But I watched it twice, and you know what, if I wanted to share it, I'd watch it again. It isn't about plot, but about process, and beauty.
The movie starred Isaach De Bankole as Protee, Giulia Boschi as Aimee Dalens, Francois Cluzet as Marc Dalens, Cecille Ducasse as France Dalens.
Comments