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Show “WASATCH COUNTY COURIER JANUARY 10, 2001 —t™ | | ) | LFA OER 8S Let ea eee emma, Chocolat kkk 1/2 STARS DIRECTED BY LASSE HALLSTROM.WRITTEN BY ROBERT NELSON JACOBS, BASED ON THE NOVEL BY JOANNE HARRIS. STARRING | JULIETTE BINOCHE, VICTOIRE THIVISOL, LENA OLIN, JUDI DENCH, JOHNNY DEPP, ALFRED ~ MOLINA, HUGH O’CONOR, PETER STORMARE, AND AURELIEN PARENT KOENIG. — Review by Paul Swenson Babette’s Feast (1988) can’t seem shop, the center of community life shifts. Danish to recognize Lasse director the genius Gabriel similar themes that Hallstrom expertly swirls into Fk ee id Rea PATRI DY SN Ne ABS his delectable concoction, Chocolat. ee devout wounds, Vianne has never married and fails to apologize for her bright and imaginative offspring. - The first drop of chocolate rolled out Axel’s in AT _-attending services. As additional salt in Vianne herself (Binoche is spellbinding in the role) is the sort of woman who might have been burned for witchcraft during the town’s medieval beginnings. is anti-religious. On JOIN Us! For a special reading with : KARL Your neighborhood book oe Located right in the heart of Heber Valley! “A Store With Book Sense.” HICKEN qi -BOOK 43 5 -65 Thursday, January 18, 7:00 p-m 103 East Main . 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Guilaurme Bierot (john Wood), a widower resigned to Hallstrom (My Life as a Dog), is, of course, Swedish, and for the fun of it, loneliness, reawakens to his attraction : Madame Audel (Leslie Caron),i he’s made what is essentially a French mourning for 30 years for her ache film, acted in English. Having wormed a WWI casualty. Vianne has the right his way into American consciousness on chocolate gift for the occasion. 3 the strength of his Hollywood pictures Vianne presses a bag of chili-pepper(Cider House Rules and What's Eating flavored chocolates Gilbert Grape?), he on a disillusioned returns in Chocolat to woman whose husa European sensibility, band has lost interand explores the relaest in their sex life; tionship between spirithey soon return tuality and sensuality, | _. together for a refill. a subject that another Josephine, the batlegendary Swedish © tered wife of Serge director, Ingmar (Peter Stormare), Bergman, also found the town’s café intriguing. 3 owner, takes Chocolat, based on refuge at the chocothe Joanne Harris ; _ Juliette Binoche, ‘the intuitive Vienne, in laterie, and is indocnovel, is both fable and Chocolat. _ trinated into the fairy tale (“Once upon art’s ancient origins. (While Reynaud’s atime...” it begins), and. aallstrom uses the genres. to explore” the tensions _ tutoring of Serge in the catechism is between appetite and self-denial, status ~ grounded in: the: ‘outward form of religion, Vianne’s mentoring of Serge’s wife quo and revolution, feast and fasting. is infused with joy and respect.) Because the movie’s closed system Like the religious seekers in is Catholic, into which are introduced ~ agents of change—a mysterious, inde-- _Babette’s Feast who are taught generosity and thankfulness by the sensual opu-. pendent woman and her confident lence of a meal prepared by the enigyoung daughter— some critics have matic Parisian Babette (Stephane reached the absurd conclusion that the picture a gathering place on Vianne’s marble cutting board is a t's curious that some of the same 2 ASS in renting the ratty remains of a defunct patisserie from Armande Voizin (Judi Dench), the resistant old crank who owns it, they transform it into a charming chocolaterie. Moreover, they are non-believers and have no interest in subtle tincture that will change the delicate chemistry of the way the town works. As parishioners begin to drift from the religious obligations of their Lenten. fast toward the splendors that beckon from the window of the chocolate glimpsed Books € Cards Book Searches Coffee & Teas A Recipe for Enjoyment who —-B3 Unique Gift Items Special Orders REVIEW Tee | YOU GOTTA LOVE IT! ~ 489 East Center Street, Heber Price Reduced to $154,000 Adorable * Newly Renovated ¢ Historical Charmer 2 (possibly 3) Bedrooms, 1 Bath* Large Corner Lot w/ Giant Mature Trees ° New Carper, Paint, Tile ¢ Floors ¢ Ceiling Fans and Appliances ¢ Fully Fenced Garden/ Dog Area YOUR OWN ORCHARD Historical - Old McDonnalds Farm $350,000 Red brick eon house on 5.2 acres in Daniels * Pressurizedi irrigation ar old Apple orchard * 1 stall horse barns * Guest cottage Co-listed with Winnie Sutra 654-2098 -Audran), Vianne’s recipe for enjoyment trary, it confronts people of all persua- ‘in Chocolat is a delicious catalyst for the villagers’ self-examination. It also opens sions with the consequences of their Vianne to her own desires and fears. actions and with the courage required On the riverfront, she confronts her to recognize the humanity of the pow_ gypsy tendencies to constantly drag her erless and the outcast. daughter from town to town, in the perBlown by a bitter north wind into son of Roux (J ohnny Depp), a fingerthe small French village of Lansquenet, picking Irish musician, who shows up which hasn’t changed in a century, with his ragtag band of houseboat revVianne Rocher (Juliette Binoche) and elers. That Vianne is seen consorting daughter Anouk (Victoire Tivisol) are with a younger man and that she and not an immediate. comfort to the town’s Anouk welcome the outcasts is a source tradition-bound parishioners, strugof fresh, new scandal. gling through Lent’s restraint and sacMoviegoers who don't get this rifice. The newcomers are an irritating movie may object to an outspoken and affliction for the town’s putative leader, composed woman (played by a superb Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina), and affecting actress) controlling the who is blind to barriers between action and peacefully challenging an feels” who and state, church and entrenched power structure. Chocolat obliged to rewrite Sunday sermons by is a woman’s movie— not in the old, the inexperienced young priest Pere anachronistic sense that implies that Henri (Hugh O’Conor). (Henri conmen can’t be in on the secret. Instead, ducts his own modest rebellion by warbling Elvis Presley’s “Nothing but a it taps a subtle feminism that opens all observant viewers to the mystery ae Hound Dog” during rectory duties.) magic of the female psyche Not only do the interlopers succeed - i ae | Se | Blue Boar sun & RESTAURANT _ SUPERB CON FINENTAL CHARMI NG “ENC HANTING 123 .‘WARM SPRINGS, ROAD C UEST CUISINE ROOM eee 5S INN MIDWAY UTAH 143 5 Ora 400 |