GERMANY: JULIETTE BINOCHE ATTENDS SCREENING OF MOVIE "CHOCOLAT" AT THE BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL

Record ID: 390909

  • Title: GERMANY: JULIETTE BINOCHE ATTENDS SCREENING OF MOVIE "CHOCOLAT" AT THE BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL
  • Date: 10th February 2001
  • Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (FEBRUARY 11, 2001 (REUTERS- ACCESS ALL) SCU (SOUNDBITE (English LENA OLIN ABOUT STUDIO FEARING AMERICAN AUDIENCES WOULD REGARD "CHOCOLAT" AS TOO EUROPEAN "I think for me it`s an American movie with a huge European influence and I think that is something ideal for me because I love the American way of making movies in many ways and there are parts of it th
  • Embargoed: 25th February 2001 12:00
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  • Location: BERLIN, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVALWX6RUOJ3UA5QB7MHRMZD9IK
  • Story Text: Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom brought a tasty helping of "Chocolat" to Berlin as his latest movie was screened at the International Film Festival. Attending the premiere were French actress Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin, but there was no sign of Johnny Depp.
    "Chocolat" by Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom tells the poignant story of single mother Vianne Rocher (Juliette Binoche), who opens a chocolate store in a French village only to be spurned by the town's residents.
    On a blustery day in the 1950s, Vianne and her young daughter arrive in the little French town of Lansquenet to set up a small chocolaterie. They rent a shop from 70-year-old Armande (Judi Dench), who is something of an outsider in town herself.
    A wanderer, Vianne is descended from a mysterious woman who used exotic spices in her recipes for chocolates to excite the passions in people's lives, and Vianne has become an expert at creating chocolate treats too.
    So what memories does chocolate invoke for Juliette Binoche? "Chocolate? For me being a child. For me it`s related to childhood because it`s this mystery of pleasure in this little thing that melts into your mouth and that`s so related to a child because you fall in love with chocolate when you try it as a child and I remember my relationship with chocolate is kind of strong because I understand the guilt of it, you don`t eat chocolate, so I would steal some of it (as a child, and I wouldn`t get it, why it is bad", she says.
    And chocolate isn`t so bad after all. At least that`s what one of the women in the village discovers about her husband....
    Says Binoche "There are many different ways in this film to let go and chocolate is a symbol of it even if I think it`s full of magnesium and it gives you strength. I need you know when I have my period, just before, I need chocolate because it helps me to carry on. Women know that don`t they, they know it."
    Lena Olin who stars in the movie as Josephine, a woman who goes through some struggles until she meets Vianne, says she`s had her share of chocolate.
    "I had to eat a lot of those chocolates and the worst was actually that hot chocolate that we had to drink because it was so thick and so rich and I don`t know to this day why we didn`t ask them to make it thinner because Judi Dench had to go through that too. And we had to drink a lot of this which was almost like chocolate sauce so I can`t do this anymore...and the whipped cream on top of that was the worst part of the chocolate eating."
    "Chocolat" is directed by Swedish director and has an American and European cast. The Miramax studio initially feared that the strong European component would prevent the film`s success in America.
    Lena Olin says "I think for me it`s an American movie with a huge European influence and I think that is something ideal for me because I love the American way of making movies in many ways and there are parts of it that I don`t like and there`s something in European moviemaking that I really love and the combination is fantastic but it`s a fear from the big Hollywood studios to make something that is European because they fear the audience would go ... they don`t speak English .. and this movie is called "Chocolat" and there`s so many European actors and it`s been hard for the studio to say no, no they speak English, it`s all very American once you go to the theatre because there is a fear from the audience and certainly from the studios for anything to be too European."
    Audiences watching "Chocolat" at Berlin were overwhelmed by the film`s charm and wit. It looks like those sweet things that melt in your mouth stand a good chance here at the Film Festival.
    --ENDS--
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