Claire Denis' semi-autobiographical first feature, Chocolat, in part describes what it might have felt like to grow up in colonial French Africa, as the director's stand-in, taken for a tourist, revisits Cameroon in adulthood and remembers... Sort of. There are entirely too many moments in the flashback the little girl was not privy to that it can't really be called that even if it's how Denis sets it up. It's really my only real complaint, as otherwise, it has a ravishing psychological complexity (and an intriguing political layer seeing as the girl is called France). At the center of the film (no matter what the posters would make you believe) is the family's head servant Protée, both an insider and an outsider, unable to act on any feeling given the power dynamic. The little girl knows nothing else and can't be said to be prejudiced, but the act of colonization in itself makes her princess boss, however innocent. The mother puts Protée in difficult situations, ignoring his (perhaps mutual) attraction to her like he was furniture. The father loves Africa and respects its people, but also lets racist house guests say what they like essentially unchallenged. So while imbued with Denis' childhood impressions, the film is also a portrait of colonization where even the nicest people are still criminally in power.
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timmy_501
I'm guessing the vast majority of these checks are for the other movie.Siskoid
Claire Denis' semi-autobiographical first feature, Chocolat, in part describes what it might have felt like to grow up in colonial French Africa, as the director's stand-in, taken for a tourist, revisits Cameroon in adulthood and remembers... Sort of. There are entirely too many moments in the flashback the little girl was not privy to that it can't really be called that even if it's how Denis sets it up. It's really my only real complaint, as otherwise, it has a ravishing psychological complexity (and an intriguing political layer seeing as the girl is called France). At the center of the film (no matter what the posters would make you believe) is the family's head servant Protée, both an insider and an outsider, unable to act on any feeling given the power dynamic. The little girl knows nothing else and can't be said to be prejudiced, but the act of colonization in itself makes her princess boss, however innocent. The mother puts Protée in difficult situations, ignoring his (perhaps mutual) attraction to her like he was furniture. The father loves Africa and respects its people, but also lets racist house guests say what they like essentially unchallenged. So while imbued with Denis' childhood impressions, the film is also a portrait of colonization where even the nicest people are still criminally in power.MMDan
https://ok.ru/video/645454957250ecwilsonaz
Why isn't the other Chocolat movie listed? The one that's about chocolate.Deus
Lasse's one is good