Chocolat

Set in French Colonial Africa, Chocolat is told from the viewpoint of 8-year-old Cecile Ducasse. With no other frame of reference, the innocent Ducasse accepts the subjugation of the black natives by the white colonists as the natural order of things. The girl grows gradually aware of the social ...more

Before she struck out on her own, Claire Denis worked as an assistant for such A-listers as Wim Wenders, Jacques Rivette, and Jim Jarmusch. The influence of those mentors is apparent in Chocolat, Denis' debut feature, but it's the singularity of her organic vision that is most impressive. Set largely in the West African colony of Cameroon in the 1950s, Chocolat is a lush, if enigmatic, portrait of the colonial experience. In the waning days of French rule, a district officer (François Cluzet) ...more