Chocolate

After many years of living in France, a wealthy white woman, France, returns to her native Cameroon. The place of her childhood brings back many memories, especially of a servant named Protée.

Chocolat
France, Germany, Cameroon 1988
  • Czech
105 min.
12+
  • This film is available until 31. 3. 2025 in these territories: Czechia, Slovakia.
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About

Claire Denis made her directorial debut with the semi-autobiographical Chocolat, in which she revisited her lonely childhood during the fading days of French colonialism in the late 1950s. The film's story begins with the adult France returning to Cameroon, where she was born; although the country welcomes her as one of its own, to others white France is a mere stranger. The young black father and son she meets on the beach trigger memories of her servant Protee, with whom she and her mother spent most of their time in the quiet white house. Claire Denis adopts the observational point of view of a little girl, and without judging or criticizing anyone, she reveals the boundedness of the society of the time. Thus, beneath the surface of this elegant film, the desire for social and sexual satisfaction flows.

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Credits
Director: Claire Denis
Screenplay: Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau
Cinematography: Robert Alazraki
Music: Abdullah Ibrahim
Sound: Jean-Louis Ughetto, Dominique Hennequin
Editing: Monica Coleman, Claudine Merlin, Sylvie Quester
Production Design: Thierry Flamand
Producer: Alain Belmondo, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Gérard Crosnier
Co-production: Marin Karmitz, Wim Wenders
Costumes: Christian Gasc
Cast: Isaach De Bankolé, Giulia Boschi, François Cluzet, Jean-Claude Adelin, Laurent Arnal, Jean Bediebe, Jean-Quentin Châtelain, Emmanuelle Chaulet, Kenneth Cranham, Jacques Denis
Links
  • This film is available until 31. 3. 2025 in these territories: Czechia, Slovakia.