PaulineDorchester
Joined Oct 2000
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PaulineDorchester's rating
This is a really fine small film, and I can recommend it without reservation. It is extremely well-acted and well-produced. I wonder if we will see a revival of fitted bodices and wide skirts as a result of its women's costumes (it is set in 1960).
Even so, I am only giving "Chocolat" a 7 out of 10, because the film -- or maybe Miramax's marketing department -- has delusions of grandeur. Someone has decided that it's about big issues like inclusivity, acceptance and free love, but it's really just a cute story about a newcomer upsetting the life a highly provincial small town, and nothing more than that. It can't bear the weight that's being heaped on it.
For the record, it does have a definite anti-Catholic tinge. I'm not a Catholic, but I did notice this. Why has the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights not had anything to say?
Even so, I am only giving "Chocolat" a 7 out of 10, because the film -- or maybe Miramax's marketing department -- has delusions of grandeur. Someone has decided that it's about big issues like inclusivity, acceptance and free love, but it's really just a cute story about a newcomer upsetting the life a highly provincial small town, and nothing more than that. It can't bear the weight that's being heaped on it.
For the record, it does have a definite anti-Catholic tinge. I'm not a Catholic, but I did notice this. Why has the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights not had anything to say?
The director and co-writer of this film is a relative newcomer to the United States. I was hoping that she would avoid the trap of reacting to this country's diversity by dealing in stereotypes. She almost made it, but not quite.
The film is set in Los Angeles and the Seeligs are portrayed as the family with the longest history in the area, yet the older generation of the Seelig family all speak as though they've spent their whole lives in New York City. My family's roots in this country are in California, and we all speak the "broadcast American" indigenous the West Coast. I grew up in Chicago, where my co-religionists' speech is indistinguishable from that of anybody else. I went to graduate school in North Carolina, and had to visit my synagogue in order to hear a Southern drawl.
Like too many other people, Ms. Chadha confuses a New York accent with a so-called "Jewish accent."
That said, I enjoyed the film very much.
The film is set in Los Angeles and the Seeligs are portrayed as the family with the longest history in the area, yet the older generation of the Seelig family all speak as though they've spent their whole lives in New York City. My family's roots in this country are in California, and we all speak the "broadcast American" indigenous the West Coast. I grew up in Chicago, where my co-religionists' speech is indistinguishable from that of anybody else. I went to graduate school in North Carolina, and had to visit my synagogue in order to hear a Southern drawl.
Like too many other people, Ms. Chadha confuses a New York accent with a so-called "Jewish accent."
That said, I enjoyed the film very much.