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| language = French<br> English
| language = French<br> English
| budget =
| budget =
| gross = $2.3 million<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=5740|title=Chocolat (1988) - JPBox-Office|website=www.jpbox-office.com}}</ref>
| gross = $2,344,286 (international)<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0094868/ |title=Chocolat (1988) |publisher=Box Office Mojo |date= |access-date=14 June 2024}}</ref>
}}
}}
'''''Chocolat''''' is a 1988 French [[historical period drama|period drama]] film written and directed by [[Claire Denis]] in her [[directorial debut]] that follows a young girl who lives with her family in [[French Cameroon]]. Marc and Aimée Dalens ([[François Cluzet]] and [[Giulia Boschi]]) play the parents of protagonist France (Cécile Ducasse), who befriends Protée ([[Isaach de Bankolé]]), a Cameroonian who is the family's household servant. The film was entered into the [[1988 Cannes Film Festival]].<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/320/year/1988.html |title=Festival de Cannes: Chocolat |accessdate=2009-07-25|work=festival-cannes.com}}</ref>
'''''Chocolat''''' is a 1988 French [[historical period drama|period drama]] film written and directed by [[Claire Denis]] (in her [[directorial debut]])<ref>{{citation |url=https://theartsdesk.com/film/blu-ray-chocolat |title=Claire Denis' African Debut Is a Nostalgic Yet Unsparing Look At Colonial Life |publisher=The Arts Desk |date=15 May 2024 |access-date=14 June 2024}}</ref> that follows a young girl who lives with her family in [[French Cameroon]]. Marc and Aimée Dalens ([[François Cluzet]] and [[Giulia Boschi]]) play the parents of protagonist France (Cécile Ducasse), who befriends Protée ([[Isaach de Bankolé]]), a Cameroonian who is the family's household servant.

''Chocolat'' was entered into the [[1988 Cannes Film Festival]].<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/320/year/1988.html |title=Festival de Cannes: Chocolat |accessdate=2009-07-25|work=festival-cannes.com}}</ref> The film was critically received with largely positive notice.<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.irishnews.com/entertainment/cult-movies-claire-denis-chocolat-is-still-a-sweet-deeply-moving-taste-of-cinematic-heaven-5OVOKTQMYZAVFPGGWTCPLVCUTY/ |title=Cult Movies: Claire Denis' Chocolat Is Still a Sweet, Deeply Moving Taste of Cinematic Heaven |publisher=The Irish News |date=17 April 2024 |access-date=14 June 2024}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=https://tiff.net/events/chocolat-2 |title=Chocolat |publisher=Toronto International Film Festival |date= |access-date=14 June 2024}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/chocolat-1989 |title=Reviews: Chocolat |publisher=Roger Ebert |date=12 May 1989 |access-date=14 June 2024}}</ref>


==Plot==
==Plot==
An adult woman named France walks down a road toward [[Douala]], Cameroon. She is picked up by William J. Park ([[Emmet Judson Williamson]]), an [[African American]] who has moved to Africa and is driving to [[Limbe, Cameroon|Limbe]] with his son. As they ride, France's mind drifts and we see her as a young girl in [[Mindif]], [[French Cameroon]] in 1957, where her father was a colonial administrator.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T7mrDwAAQBAJ&q=Mindif+chocolat&pg=PA166|title=Cinema and Landscape: Film, Nation and Cultural Geography: Film, Nation and Cultural Geography|first1=Graeme|last1=Harper|first2=Jonathan|last2=Rayner|date=January 1, 2010|publisher=Intellect Books|isbn=9781841503042|via=Google Books}}</ref>
An adult woman named France walks down a road toward [[Douala]], Cameroon. She is picked up by William J. Park ([[Emmet Judson Williamson]]), an [[African American]] who has moved to Africa and is driving to [[Limbe, Cameroon|Limbe]] with his son. As they ride, France's mind drifts and we see her as a young girl in [[Mindif]], [[French Cameroon]] in 1957, where her father was a colonial administrator.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T7mrDwAAQBAJ&q=Mindif+chocolat&pg=PA166|title=Cinema and Landscape: Film, Nation and Cultural Geography: Film, Nation and Cultural Geography|first1=Graeme|last1=Harper|first2=Jonathan|last2=Rayner|date=January 1, 2010|publisher=Intellect Books|isbn=9781841503042|via=Google Books}}</ref>


The story is told through the eyes of young France, showing her friendship with the "houseboy," Protée, as well the sexual tension between him and her mother, Aimée. The conflict of the film comes from the discomfort created as France and her mother attempt to move past the established boundaries between themselves and the native Africans. This is brought to a head through Luc Segalen ([[Jean-Claude Adelin]]), a Western drifter who stays with the Dalens family after a small aircraft crashes nearby. He acknowledges Aimée's attraction to Protée in the presence of other black servants. This later results in a fight between Luc and Protée, which Protée wins. During the fight, Aimée sits nearby, unseen by the two. She attempts to seduce Protée after Luc has left but he rejects her advance. Aimée consequently asks her husband to remove him from the house. Protée is moved from his in-house job to working outdoors in the garage as a mechanic.
The story is told through the eyes of young France, showing her friendship with the "houseboy," Protée, as well as the sexual tension between Protée and her mother, Aimée. The conflict of the film comes from the discomfort created as France and her mother attempt to move past the established boundaries between themselves and the native Africans. This is brought to a head through Luc Segalen ([[Jean-Claude Adelin]]), a Western drifter who stays with the Dalens family after a small aircraft crashes nearby. He acknowledges Aimée's attraction to Protée in the presence of other black servants. This later results in a fight between Luc and Protée, which Protée wins. During the fight, Aimée sits nearby, unseen by the two. She attempts to seduce Protée after Luc has left but he rejects her advance. Aimée consequently asks her husband to remove him from the house. Protée is moved from his in-house job to working outdoors in the garage as a mechanic.


Towards the end of the film, France's father reveals a central theme of the film as he explains to her what the [[horizon]] is. He tells her that it is a line that is there but not there, a symbol for the boundaries that exist in the country between rich and poor, master and servant, white and black, coloniser and colonised, male and female; a line that is always visible but impossible to approach or pass.
Towards the end of the film, France's father reveals a central theme of the film as he explains to her what the [[horizon]] is. He tells her that it is a line that is there but not there, a symbol for the boundaries that exist in the country between rich and poor, master and servant, white and black, coloniser and colonised, male and female; a line that is always visible but impossible to approach or pass.
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* [[Clementine Essono]] as Marie-Jeanne
* [[Clementine Essono]] as Marie-Jeanne
* [[Essindi Mindja]] as Blaise
* [[Essindi Mindja]] as Blaise
[[File:Le pic de Mindif.jpg|thumb|The Mindif Peaks, depicted in the film.]]
[[File:Le pic de Mindif.jpg|thumb|The Mindif Peaks, Depicted In the Film]]


==Soundtrack==
==Soundtrack==
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==External links==
==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0094868|Chocolat}}
* {{IMDb title|0094868|Chocolat}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061231024526/http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/CoursePack/Chocolat.htm Film guide & resources for Culture & Literature of Africa course]
* [https://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/CoursePack/Chocolat.htm Detailed Analysis of ''Chcolat'' via Central Oregon Community College]


{{Claire Denis}}
{{Claire Denis}}

Revision as of 16:32, 13 June 2024

For other uses, see Chocolat.
Chocolat
English-language film poster
Directed byClaire Denis
Written byClaire Denis
Jean-Pol Fargeau
Produced byAlain Belmondo
Gérard Crosnier
Starring
CinematographyRobert Alazraki
Edited byMonica Coleman
Claudine Merlin
Sylvie Quester
Music byAbdullah Ibrahim
Release date
  • 1988 (1988)
Running time
105 minutes
CountriesFrance
Cameroon
LanguagesFrench
English
Box office$2,344,286 (international)[1]

Chocolat is a 1988 French period drama film written and directed by Claire Denis (in her directorial debut)[2] that follows a young girl who lives with her family in French Cameroon. Marc and Aimée Dalens (François Cluzet and Giulia Boschi) play the parents of protagonist France (Cécile Ducasse), who befriends Protée (Isaach de Bankolé), a Cameroonian who is the family's household servant.

Chocolat was entered into the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.[3] The film was critically received with largely positive notice.[4][5][6]

Plot

An adult woman named France walks down a road toward Douala, Cameroon. She is picked up by William J. Park (Emmet Judson Williamson), an African American who has moved to Africa and is driving to Limbe with his son. As they ride, France's mind drifts and we see her as a young girl in Mindif, French Cameroon in 1957, where her father was a colonial administrator.[7]

The story is told through the eyes of young France, showing her friendship with the "houseboy," Protée, as well as the sexual tension between Protée and her mother, Aimée. The conflict of the film comes from the discomfort created as France and her mother attempt to move past the established boundaries between themselves and the native Africans. This is brought to a head through Luc Segalen (Jean-Claude Adelin), a Western drifter who stays with the Dalens family after a small aircraft crashes nearby. He acknowledges Aimée's attraction to Protée in the presence of other black servants. This later results in a fight between Luc and Protée, which Protée wins. During the fight, Aimée sits nearby, unseen by the two. She attempts to seduce Protée after Luc has left but he rejects her advance. Aimée consequently asks her husband to remove him from the house. Protée is moved from his in-house job to working outdoors in the garage as a mechanic.

Towards the end of the film, France's father reveals a central theme of the film as he explains to her what the horizon is. He tells her that it is a line that is there but not there, a symbol for the boundaries that exist in the country between rich and poor, master and servant, white and black, coloniser and colonised, male and female; a line that is always visible but impossible to approach or pass.

Cast

The Mindif Peaks, Depicted In the Film

Soundtrack

The soundtrack, performed and recorded by Abdullah Ibrahim, was released in 1988 as Mindif.[8]

References

  1. ^ Chocolat (1988), Box Office Mojo, retrieved 14 June 2024
  2. ^ Claire Denis' African Debut Is a Nostalgic Yet Unsparing Look At Colonial Life, The Arts Desk, 15 May 2024, retrieved 14 June 2024
  3. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Chocolat". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  4. ^ Cult Movies: Claire Denis' Chocolat Is Still a Sweet, Deeply Moving Taste of Cinematic Heaven, The Irish News, 17 April 2024, retrieved 14 June 2024
  5. ^ Chocolat, Toronto International Film Festival, retrieved 14 June 2024
  6. ^ Reviews: Chocolat, Roger Ebert, 12 May 1989, retrieved 14 June 2024
  7. ^ Harper, Graeme; Rayner, Jonathan (January 1, 2010). Cinema and Landscape: Film, Nation and Cultural Geography: Film, Nation and Cultural Geography. Intellect Books. ISBN 9781841503042 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ Singerman, Alan J.; Bissière, Michèle (September 15, 2018). Contemporary French Cinema: A Student's Book. Hackett Publishing. ISBN 9781585108947 – via Google Books.
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