serts34 I rented this movie, hoping that this would lead to something interesting. It started out a bit dubious already with swapped children, which would have been fine with Shakespeare but in more modern-day technology is not very plausible. And then it leads out to the various plots of possible fathers, suspicious deaths and incidents, and a woman who poisons people through her hot chocolate (Huppert). It sounds rather ludicrous, like it should make for a very good comedic story or something of the sort. It bored me to tears. I sat there and sat there, while the film moved at a glacial pace through those plots, and while inconsistencies popped up. And there were even some implausible cases--how very convenient that the girl who suspected Mika (Huppert) put drugs into the hot chocolate had a boyfriend working in the lab in her mother's place! That was the one big thing that irritated me; the rest I was too bored to notice, and I haven't seen this movie for a few months since. Huppert was about the only redeeming value, as the rest of the actors are conventional, have no chemistry, boring, and quite frankly did the whole movie in for me. Huppert played Mika quite well though--a seemingly normal woman, but underneath that facade you just know that something's wrong, even though what she does is hardly suspicious at first. And as usual, Huppert uses micro-gestures to convey the creepiness and twistedness of Mika well, although I feel like Huppert was delivering for something, only that thing never arrived. If you like implausible plots, a glacial pace (but I've seen and liked "Four Months, Three Weeks, and Two Days", which moves rather slowly; don't mistake me for hyperactive or with ADD), and just sheer boringness, this is the movie for you. I am sorry if my opinion seems blatantly wrong, but this movie was just not up to my taste or standards. 5/10.

robert-642 The French either make pro-Marxist films or anti-Marxist films - with a few in between. "Merci pour le chocolat" is the latter of this genre. From the opening credits telling the viewer what music is going to be played and by whom it was who composed you know that you are going to be swathed in middle class pretension. It is an old man's film with an excess of 40's plus people. It is also directed by an old man along with an old crew who have nothing to say about life to the viewer. The plot is not only banal but preposterous. How many films reveal the plot through dialogue only to repeat the same message via flashback some five minutes later? Maybe the director and actors had a low retentive capacity? In truth their is no tenable plot at all. It is riddle with holes like a good piece of French cheese.Whether intentional or not, it is a film about the bourgeoisie. At least a third of the film focuses on the piano and the pretentious twaddle espoused in each scene. I concede it has some well framed shots though they couldn't have used a steady-cam in this film - it would have woke them all up! Other than it being a nonsense story, the film allows the upper middle class to parade their values and vanity in a very comfortable Swiss location. A telling line of the film is when Rodolphe Pauly tells Anna Mouglalis that she need not lock her car while in the resort! Oh dear me.On the DVD, Miss Huppert makes a comment about shedding a false tear for a scene. Smirking she says: "Like they do in the American Actor's Studio!" I think Miss Huppert and the rest of the cast could learn well from the Actor's Studio.If there is one statement that stand out in my mind it is when Huppert remarks 'we are having friends for the weekend and all the servants are away'. No doubt they had all escaped from the mind numbing set lest they be associated with such an appalling film.Safety Medical Note. In the film they show a hot water scald being covered with ointment and a bandage. This should never be done. Only cold water should be used.Minus 10 marks.

Glenn Andreiev Sometimes a comedic story idea could make for an emotionally engrossing thriller instead. Such is the case with MERCI POUR LE CHOCOLAT. Chabrol turns what would be a situation comedy plot into a compelling thriller about failed relationships. A respected pianist Andre Polonski (Jacques Dutronc) figures that a maternity ward mishap caused him and his wife, Marie (Isabelle Hubbert) a chocolate manufacturer, to raise the wrong child. Their college age `son', Guillaume, actually belongs to somebody else. Andre's real child seems to be Jeanne, (Anna Maoglalis) a lovely piano student. Jeanne and her boyfriend, a medical lab intern, are trying to figure out what poison will do some undetected dirty work (Chabrol originally studied to be a pharmacist) Chabrol started his career in the 1950's co-authoring well respected essays on Alfred Hitchcock with fellow countryman and future director Eric Rohmer. Unlike DePalma with his very obvious `Hey, hey look, what Hitchcock film is my scene copied from?' Chabrol wisely keeps his Hitchcock copying to a minimum with subtle Hitchcock styled camera movement. Instead of celebrating `technical innovation', Chabrol uses his camera to keep us gazing at the film's characters.

AJ Crypto As most French movies, there is more emphasis in the interpersonal relations than action. An interesting plot develops and it seems to have a lot of potential. Unfortunately it leads to a very predictable outcome.Maybe the American remake will capitalize on this weakness and give us at the end the suspense it could have achieved.I enjoyed the traveling, the destination was disappointing.