MERCI POUR LE CHOCOLAT (Nightcap, 2000) ** Claude Chabrol spends the first half hour setting up a fascinating framework of subterfuge, mistaken identity, autopsy, tennis and restaurants, set to the background of classical piano that seems to come so naturally to French directors and not at all to anyone else. Once Chabrol has convinced us that the bourgeois subjects are entertaining, or at least hiding something of interest; worth paying attention to at any rate; he gradually descends into the lie in himself. Everything, it turns out, is just as one would suspect: the characters are dull, the evil in which they indulge is indeed the obvious, and their confusion over trivial issues including parentage and murder contains entertainment value approximating that of the board meeting...any board meeting. Even Jacques Dutronc as the somewhat long-haired classical pianist is the victim of his surroundings, no doubt consuming rophynol at the expense of heavy drinking because he's stuck in that house with Isabelle Huppert, or perhaps because he's preoccupied with record sales or not getting the furniture dirty; things are so dull that he welcomes the opportunity with even Anna Mouglalis who doesn't seem to be a particularly promising student. I mean, yeah, we all tend to go with what works, but he apparently doesn't even know how it effects his love drive. She may be able to lap up everything Dutronc has to offer though...perhaps the title refers to something similarly modest in expanse...the most memorable portion of the film may be when the person besides you hands you a piece of chocolate.
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