Definitely, one of the reasons why this film is delightful is because it plays like an interesting small-town fable. Secondly, it’s because it has chocolates. Any man of any upbringing would kneel in the glory of the luscious delicacy, while I am a frenetic fan of chocolates, especially dark ones; I find this film sweet, tingling, charming but entirely uneven and a tad lopsided.

It starts off with “once upon a time” in a tranquil little French village where everyone seemed to have glued their whole lives and spirits into the chastise of religion, controlled by the despicable Comte De Reynaud (Alfred Molina), who claims that his wife was visiting Venice but in fact could not accept that he was deserted by her. A sly wind from the North brought Vianne (Juliette Binoche) and her illegitimate daughter Anouk, two philanderers who would bring change to the whole village. They built their own Chocolatier in time for Lent, where everybody is supposed to be on fasting.

It’s hard to resist the beauty and pulchritude of chocolates but in this film, we find it a bit whimsical to look at since Vianne’s Chocolatier suddenly turns into a healing centre for the troubled ones, as though she was Mary and her shop was her Jerusalem. A domestically-abused wife finds refuge in the shop, away from her sadistic husband, an old hopeless man finds strength to utter his feelings to a widow, a severe hostility between a mother Armande (Dame Judi Dench) and a daughter (Carrie Ann Moss) was melted – all repercussions of the fluffy and sumptuous chocolates served by Vianne’s shop. From this point of the film, there is indeed some miracle happening beneath the scenes as the village people were beguiled by the power of chocolates in their lives. We think, who is Vianne really is? A witch? A voodoo priestess? A pagan goddess? Chocolat is an allegory to the cold war between religions: paganism and Christianity. And of course, since chocolates are in the pagan’s side, it’s obvious they would win in this tale.

It’s also blended with a speck of romantic-comedy, with Johnny Depp playing as Roux, one of the river folks. Shame for Depp, such a magnificent actor as he is and undoubtedly the best in his generation (the only actor today that deserved to have an Oscar but didn’t win any... erm, sorry Peter O’Toole, harrumph), his character Roux was underused, under-seen, and underdeveloped. His magnitude brings an edge of darkness to the film, counter-balancing Juliette Binoche’s immaculate prowess and beauty. Binoche however is just more than a revelation; this French actress had come along way and since her stunning breakthrough in The English Patient, she would flow into the mainstream effortlessly without doubt. In fact now, she does.

Nominated for 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture last 2001, such an affectionate tale of a woman who was brought up to fulfil a purpose, the divinity and care amongst the people, oppressed herself without love and hope for her own, was a nice but not too great choice. Love was a major element in this film, and as well, chocolate was the aphrodisiac. It passes my whims, and thank God it’s sweet enough to melt in my taste, this Chocolat. This life-affirming film holds dear to those weak-hearted, touchy-feely people, generates liking to those chocolate haters, bores the action-adventure lousies and inspires the oldie folks to give it another go (if you see what I mean, you go folks!). Kudos to Lassie Hallstrom for creating a minor trifle of a film, easy enough to watch, easy enough to expunge the boredom away.

Rating: B+