Melhor que Chocolate

Before you see Peggy Thompson and Anne Wheeler's "Better Than Chocolate", ask yourself if you want to see yet another lesbian film heavy with issues. I, unfortunately, get easily irritated by movies weighed down with a political agenda, but, fortunately, this one had enough funny charm and emotional content to keep me interested. The framework of the film is your typical girl meets girl, girl almost loses girl because she can't come out to her parents scenario. The very involved subplots, however, create the film's promise.

Lila (Wendy Crewson) is the betrayed house-wife going through a divorce, and mother-cum-roommate (and she's not the only character we get to see cum in the film) of the movie's central character, Maggie (Karyn Dwyer). Aside from the artfully sensual (yummy!) love-making scenes between the main character and her new girlfriend Kim (Christina Cox), the friendship formed between Lila, and her daughter's transgender friend Judy (Peter Outerbridge) makes for some of the movie's most delightful moments.

One character who isn't given nearly enough screen time is Carla (Marya Delver), a gorgeous "omnisexual" (as described by Maggie) feminine biker babe who works at the bookstore that serves as the dramatic hub of the film. She is flirtatious and outrageously forthright with her sexual appetites. Carla seduces Maggie's seventeen year old brother Paul (Kevin Mundy) into exploring new possibilities (after all, "boys like toys, too."). I couldn't help thinking, however, that the writer was, at times, poking gentle fun at her, though with no real disrespect intended.

As an interesting side note, the film steps outside the realm of gender and sexual politics to touch on other sensitive issues. One of those being the role of the artist. Almost all the film's characters are artists in one way or another. From Maggie's window installations, to Lila's forsaken Opera career, to Judy's fantastic nightclub acts, to Kim's paintings, the arts are heavily addressed. In the dialogue between Lila and other characters we see that, as filmmakers, the writer and director have a real grasp on the difficulties of being creators. What is fascinating is that "coming out" as an artist, in the film, is nearly equated with coming out as a lesbian. Aside from the annoying in-your-face rhetorical quality typical of many gay and lesbian films, "Better Than Chocolate" is warmly amusing and appealing to those of any gender or sexual orientation.

I was expecting a pleasant bit of romantic fluff, but instead found this movie to be hilarious, hot, poignant and well-acted. The humor is all about the difficulties we face in communicating with each other, fears of coming out, of taking risks. The romantic content is passionate and believable. And the ultraviolet Julie Christie number is not to be missed.

I liked this movie. It wasn't the best lesbian film I've seen, but it's quite sweet.

I'll get the bad points of the movie out of the way first. My main problem with the film was that the characters weren't really deep. You couldn't really relate to them much as the makers only skimmed the surface of their personalities. I felt the same way with the plot, too. It needed a few viewings before I could really get into this film.

On the other hand. Although a little bland, the characters where still quite sweet. And funny. My favourite being Judy, the loveliest drag-queen ever!

If you like romantic little stories, and are a fan of gay cinema - then you should see this movie.

Better Than Chocolate is a Canadian film about the relationship between mother and daughter which turns out to be a lot closer than we're originally led to believe. As the mother, Wendy Crewson appears to be oblivious to the fact that daughter Karyn Dwyer is a lesbian.

At least that's how it appears when she drops in unannounced on her daughter and a recent new girl friend, Christina Cox. The pretext is that Dwyer has dropped out of the university, but Crewson wants to check out more than that.

Acting honors in this film go to Peter Outerbridge who plays the transgender woman Judy, formerly Jeremy. Outerbridge in his own way is playing a role as much a pioneering effort as Hillary Swank in Boys Don't Cry. Had this been a major American film, we might have been talking Oscar for him.

Outerbridge is a wise old soul who's seen life from a few different perspectives. She's been cast out by her family, kind of like Michael Dunn is Ship of Fools. Just as Dunn's parents didn't want a dwarf around and gave him spending money to constantly travel, Outerbridge's parents by him a flat precisely so he can live away from them. It's quite a scene when Judy discovers that the flat is really a kiss off. Crewson and Outerbridge aid each other in their moment of crisis.

If nothing else should have tipped her off that Dwyer was not living the 'normal' life those battery operated sex toys should have said something. Of course Crewson finds they have their uses and she who has said that sex is now being sworn off for chocolate finds that even battery operated love is better than no love at all.

Better Than Chocolate is funny and sweet and endearing all at the same time. A triple threat on the emotions from Anne Wheeler in Canada.

BETTER THAN CHOCOLATE is just like a ballad by Leonard Cohen: it starts of slow, seems to be going nowhere, then inexplicably arrives at a place of romantic power and beauty. Everything, from the performers to the script to the direction get better and better as the movie progresses. 5/10 for the first half of the film, 9/10 for the second half.