Chocolat
Short description
In the winter of 1959, a woman named Vianne Rocher arrives with her young daughter, Anouk, in a small French town where life has followed the same quiet, devout routine for generations. She rents a vacant shop and opens a chocolate confectionery just as Lent begins, and her instinct for what each customer secretly craves draws villagers in one by one. The mayor, Count Paul de Reynaud, sees the shop as an affront to the town's moral order and works to turn its residents against her, while the arrival of a nomadic newcomer, Roux, shifts the balance of the conflict. The film is based on Joanne Harris's novel.
Lasse Hallström directed, working from a screenplay by Robert Nelson Jacobs and Harris. It is the sixth of the twenty films he has directed, following The Cider House Rules and preceding The Shipping News. Juliette Binoche plays Vianne, with Judi Dench, Alfred Molina, Lena Olin, Johnny Depp and Hugh O'Conor among the cast. Made for 25 million USD, it took 153 million USD worldwide, a strong return on its budget. On IMDb it holds 7.2/10 from 210,000 votes and on TMDB 7/10 from 3,576 votes, while a critics' rating stands at 6.5/10 from 163 reviews, so audiences rated it a little more warmly than reviewers did.
What's left behind the scenes
- When Roux first comes to Serge's bar with the girl from the boat, her hair is neatly combed. However, later, when the bartender says “I don’t serve animals,” her hair suddenly becomes tousled and tangled. Then, when Vianne invites them to her shop, the girl’s hair is neatly styled again.
- The film is based on Joanne Harris's novel 'Chocolat' (1999).
- When Vianne and Anouk first go down to the river to see the River People, we hear Roux playing the guitar, but do not see him. Then, when Vianne and Anouk finally see Roux, it turns out that he is sitting with a guitar right in front of them – in a place where no one was sitting in the previous shot.
- At the end of the film, as the camera moves away from the village during the closing credits, a person can be seen walking across the lower half of the square. The director wanted to prove to viewers that they were seeing a real village, not a model.
- The name of the kangaroo Pantufa, whom Anouk imagines, is spelled Pantoufle. This word means “slipper” in French and is sometimes used with that meaning in English as well.
- The scene where Roux (Johnny Depp) dances with Armande Voizin (Judi Dench) at the shipboard party was not included in the European theatrical release of the film, although a fragment of this scene remained in the promotional trailer.
- Although most of the film was shot in France, all scenes featuring Johnny Depp were filmed in the United Kingdom.
- The city cemetery shown in the film does not actually exist – it is a set built specifically for the movie.
- The boat on which the love scene between Vianne (Juliette Binoche) and Roux (Johnny Depp) takes place was entirely a set. It was installed in a pavilion and had a special mechanism to simulate the rocking of a river. The shot after the heroes' kiss, when we see their silhouettes and the boat on the water, was created using computer graphics.
- Juliette Binoche visited a chocolate shop in Paris to learn how chocolates are made.
- When Roux first comes to the chocolate shop, Vianne gives him a chocolate bar to try. After Roux takes a bite, the camera changes angle – and the chocolate bar is completely eaten.
- At the end of the film, Vianne hands Roux the same cup of hot chocolate twice.
- Filming took place from May 2nd to August 6th, 2000 in France and England.
- In the film's finale, a real wallaby kangaroo was used as “the revived Pantuf”.
- In the original novel, Pantuf is not a kangaroo, but a rabbit.
- In the chocolate shop, Armande (Judi Dench) reads a poem by Arthur Rimbaud, 'Farewell' (Adieu), from the collection 'A Season in Hell' (1873) to her grandson.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
