Character sturdy

Notwithstanding the slew of Oscar nominations it received last year, some people dismissed director Lasse Hallstrom’s film version of the John Irving novel The Cider House Rules as too quaint and picturesque for its own good, in telling a story that was at least partly about a drug-addicted abortionist and a poor black farmhand who’s raped by her own father.
In delightful contrast there is Chocolat (opening Dec. 22), a warm and fanciful romantic fable that’s exceedingly well-served by Hallstrom’s sentimental, beautified flair. Set in a small and isolated French village during the late 1950s, his new film showcases the exquisite Juliette Binoche as a free-spirited single mother who breezes into town and promptly opens a chocolate shop — arousing in more ways than one the sensations of a repressed and uptight cast of characters.
“The movie’s about basic things like family and love, about the importance of tolerance for things that are foreign or alien to you, but it’s essentially a story about the age-old clash between tradition and change, a clash that’s ongoing even today. The fact that there was a comedic, fairy-tale quality to the story appealed to me, but I also liked that there was still an attention to portraying these characters truthfully, portraying their real lives,” explains Hallstrom, 54, during a recent interview.
“I like telling stories that are more about character than about plot, and especially stories about outsiders or outcasts who stir things up for those people around them,” he says. “Trying to blend and balance all the different elements was a big challenge, but I liked that range to the material, that it could be magical or farcical one minute and then ring true poetically or dramatically the next.”
Hallstrom owes no minor debt of gratitude to his illustrious ensemble, in which even the smallest roles have been perfectly assigned and performed: Binoche’s adolescent daughter, for example, is played by Victoire Thivisol (of Ponette fame); another former child star, Hugh O’Conor (best known as the younger Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot), also registers as the village’s inexperienced new vicar.
More prominently, ostensible leading man Johnny Depp turns up rather late in the film as a roving Irish minstrel and love interest for Binoche. Personifying “tradition” to her “change” is veteran heavy Alfred Molina, who thankfully tones it down a bit as a decidedly self-righteous mayor.
Most enjoyably of all, though, Chocolat qualifies as an old-fashioned sort of “woman’s picture” not only in the sense that Binoche plays the main character, but also because there are a number of other strong and equally charismatic supporting actresses in the cast — although the legendary Leslie Caron is conspicuously underutilized as a widow who’s still mourning the death of her husband in the war (no, the first world war).
Dame Judi Dench delivers yet another richly textured performance as a cranky landlady and closeted romantic, and Lena Olin plays an emotionally fragile battered wife whose newfound independence flourishes under Binoche’s care.
Notable, too, is the fact that Hallstrom and Olin happen to be husband and wife. Married some 10 years ago, they’ve actually known each other since the mid-’70s, when they were both just starting out in their native Sweden. Even so, Chocolat marks the couple’s very first professional collaboration. “I didn’t realize working together would be as much fun as it was. It was truly relaxed and unforced, and it was such a treat to connect on this level, to establish a working relationship on top of our personal relationship,” he says.
Hallstrom made a name for himself helming ABBA videos prior to branching out into features. After a couple of lesser efforts, his breakthrough coming-of-age comedy My Life As a Dog (1985) earned him Oscar nominations for writing and directing (a rarity among foreign films). His first big studio movie was the failed Holly Hunter/Richard Dreyfuss vehicle Once Around, but he fared considerably better with What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, with Depp and a then unknown Leonardo DiCaprio. (For the record, the director notes, “I think Johnny’s a much more confident actor now than he was then in this sort of leading-man part, and it was really nice watching him go at this role in Chocolat with such gusto.”)
Hallstrom is still riding high on the success of The Cider House Rules, and he admits this year’s Oscar experience was much less taxing on him than his first trip to the ceremony. “I have a fear of public speaking that almost overrides my desire to win, and I was completely terrified the first time because I hadn’t thought to prepare something to say, just in case,” Hallstrom recalls with a laugh. “This time, at least I’d scribbled a little something down, so I felt a lot better about it and was able to relax and enjoy just being there.”
One would hope Chocolat might bring him back to the Oscars next year, but Hallstrom “can’t afford to think about that right now.” He’s “too focused” on his next project: The Shipping News, starring Kevin Spacey and Julianne Moore, which is slated to start shooting in March.