Chocolat (1988)
Directed by Claire Denis

Film Review

With this visually stunning and highly evocative depiction of life in a remote outpost of the dwindling French empire, Claire Denis established herself as one of the most influential directors of her generation.  Her first film, it is probably her most personal, drawing on her own experiences and her intense love of the Dark Continent. It is a stark and lyrical film that anticipates her subsequent achievements, Beau travail (1999) and White Material (2010).

The most powerful aspect of the film is the way it manages to capture the suppressed humiliation and frustration of the African servant boy, Protée, capably played by Isaach De Bankolé.  Intentionally or not, this provides a stark metaphor for the ignominy that the French colonists inflicted on the African natives and belies the frustrated pride that is such a strong part of the African psyche.

Although there is much to commend in this film, its lack of strong narrative and strong central characters could be off-putting to many cinema-goers unfamiliar with Denis' style of cinema.  The film can best be thought of as a leisurely, unhurried jeep ride through the African countryside, to a time when racial attitudes were very different to our own.  The film does not go out of its way to shock us, but we are gently reminded how self-destructive any society based on racist divisions can become.

Film Synopsis

A young French woman named France returns to Cameroon after twenty years and is prompted to recall the happy childhood years she spent there in the 1950s.  Her father Marc Dalens was a colonial administrator who was often away from home performing his official duties.  Her closest friend was a black houseboy Protée, to whom her mother Aimée was secretly attracted.  One day, a light aircraft crashes in the vicinity, bringing into the closeted lives of France and her mother some people who appear set to banish the harmony they have so far enjoyed whilst living in the country. One of the newcomers, Luc Segalen, notices the strong physical attraction between Aimée and Protée and this prompts France's mother to give in to her desires - with catastrophic results...