I watched this movie on Valentine’s Day with the family.  After a scrumptious Valentine’s Day dinner I convinced the whole family to watch Chocolat with me. I had seen it years ago when it first came out and fell in love with it!  I had forgotten about the movie until recently when I was making decadent hot chocolate from scratch at home.  As I was stirring the dense creamy chocolate into the milk and adding cream, and vanilla; my memories of the movie Chocolat came back to me with a smile as I remembered Juliette Binoche doing the same thing in that movie – stirring creamy hot chocolate to serve to her customers.

I wanted the kids to see it, as they weren’t familiar with the movie.  They love chocolate and I thought this would be a perfect Valentine’s Day movie to watch with the entire family.  Lucky for me they all agreed! Oh what a wonderful movie this is!

Adapted for the big screen from the book Chocolat by Joanne Harris, this movie is a feast for the eyes, stomach, and the soul.  With an all-star cast and spectacular set design, this movie will leave you feeling happy and smiling.

Chocolat has an outstanding storyline! An original story about a mother and daughter who travel from village to village partaking of their elixir of love – chocolate. It’s a beautifully woven tale of bigotry, religious zealots, domestic abuse, the pressure to fit into society by following tradition, resistance to change; all with an over arching theme of love; and that chocolate can conquer it all. Now isn’t that an original idea? Chocolate as the cure?

Set in 1959 in a small French village the story begins when mysterious Vianne and her daughter arrive in a quiet French village. Within days, she opens an unusual chocolate shop, across the square from the village church. Her ability to perceive her customers’ desires and satisfy them with just the right chocolate confection, coaxes the villagers to abandon themselves to the temptation of chocolate – just as Lent begins.  Lent is the season of the Christian year when Christians focus on simple living, prayer, and fasting, in order to grow closer to God. Obviously, a chocolate shop opening during a time of penance does not sit well with the town Mayor, who is a traditionalist and wants to hold on by any means to the ways the villagers have lived for centuries.  This is the premise of the story.

The color in this movie is absolutely amazing!!!  It’s so rich and vibrant and honestly, if I could eat color, I would eat it all from this movie. Beautiful shades of turquoise, blue, teal, and vibrant shades of reds, maroons, and oranges; mixed in with soft grays and lovely green scenery; this movie is such a feast for the eyes. And the costume design is just as gorgeous.

Even the church scene in this movie is stunning.  Teal green/blue floors with darkly clothed churchgoers – seriously, can this look any more strikingly beautiful?

And how can I not mention the gorgeous red capes that Juliette and her on-screen daughter wore when they came to set up shop in the tiny French village. Wow, Wow, I may get me a red cape if I can find one.  And then I saw those red shoes!!!  I’ve never known red shoes to look so gorgeous. I’ve always read that you want to go neutral on your feet so as to elongate your legs, but heck those red shoes looked amazing on Juliette!  Out goes that theory of neutral shoes on the feet!  I’m going to look for some red shoes now.

Ladies, after watching this movie you will pine for the days of wearing dresses and long skirts. Chocolat is rich with women in soft and flowy dresses, or what we used to call frocks.  Each actress wearing one beautiful dress or another, not the mini skirts or pants you see now mind you; but gorgeous flowy long dresses that are figure flattering as well as they are sexy.  After watching the movie I wanted to put aside my favored jeans and go out and get some flowy dresses and skirts for myself!  I do miss the times when women wore more feminine clothes with lots of color – like our Moms used to wear colourful sarees back in India.

Women in their stunning dresses, shawls, blouses, skirts, and cardigans in Chocolat.

More Scenes from Chocolat. Even the guitar has color!

Enough about the color, set design and dresses ,and what a great story this is. Watch it for yourself.  You can see it on Netflix or Hulu or iTunes  Chocolat