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Merci pour le Chocolat [DVD] [2001]
 
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Merci pour le Chocolat [DVD] [2001]

DVD ~ Isabelle Huppert
3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

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Merci pour le Chocolat [DVD] [2001]
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Merci pour le Chocolat [DVD] [2001] 3.1 out of 5 stars (13)
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Product details

  • Actors: Isabelle Huppert, Jacques Dutronc, Anna Mouglalis, Rodolphe Pauly, Brigitte Catillon
  • Directors: Claude Chabrol
  • Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen, Import
  • Language French
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: Artificial Eye
  • DVD Release Date: 19 Nov 2001
  • Run Time: 97 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00005QG0M
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 50,868 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

Claude Chabrol's nervy and nasty little 2001 thriller Merci Pour le Chocolat is based on Charlotte Armstrong's novel The Chocolate Cobweb. In Chabrol's hands it becomes a vehicle of considerable power for the unsettling, disturbed qualities of actress Isabelle Huppert, who has been one of his most important muses over the years (their other collaborations include La Cérémonie and Rien ne va Plus). Huppert plays Mika, the owner of a Swiss chocolate factory, now married to a world-class concert pianist (Jacques Dutronc) and with a stepson who is obsessive about making the family's drinking chocolate every day. As the clues unravel, it soon becomes clear that Mika is damaged goods. When Dutronc acquires a piano student (Anna Mougalis) in curious circumstances, Mika is forced to escalate her secret agenda. Huppert is fascinating throughout and the film is sinewy and, for the most part, rather clever, evoking shades of Hitchcock and Clouzot. Liszt's Les Funérailles is the ominous leitmotif, worked on by Dutronc and his protégé, and the Lausanne setting creates an other-worldliness which seems almost sterile. Only at the end does the picture dwindle into an almost Strindbergian inertia as Mika's motivation seems to evaporate in a rather unsatisfactory way. Until then it is spellbinding. --Piers Ford


Product Description

Claude Chabrol's taut thriller stars Isabelle Huppert as the villainous spider at the centre of an intricate and murderous web of deception. Huppert plays Mika, wife of celebrated pianist Andre Polonski (Jacques Dutronc) and stepmother to his son, Guillaume, whose mother died in a car wreck on his sixth birthday. Their lives are interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Jeanne (Anna Mouglalis), a young woman who has learned that she was almost switched at birth with Guillaume whilst in hospital. Also a pianist, Jeanne harbours a suspicion that she may be Andre's daughter. Andre undertakes to continue her piano tuition, but, on entering the Polonski family, Jeanne begins to notice the icily controlled Mika behaving strangely. Her suspicions aroused, Jeanne begins the dangerous task of unravelling Mika's dark past of secrets and lies...

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13 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.1 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Isabelle Huppert and Anna Mougalis are outstanding, 19 Jun 2005
By Budge Burgess (Kilmarnock, Scotland) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   
A film which starts, you imagine, as a nice French / Swiss comedy of manners as a rich, talented couple remarry after a separation of some twenty years or so. She is the owner of company which makes legendary drinking chocolate. He, André, is a concert pianist. They appear blissfully happy - she, Mika, had remained friends with his in-between wife, had comforted him after her tragic death, and had readily assumed the role of mother to his teenage son, Guillaume. Bliss.

Enter a young music student, a tall elegantly beautiful young woman, Jeanne, who dreams of being a concert pianist. She learns from her mother that there had been mix-up at the hospital the night she was born, the famous concert pianist believing for a time that she was his child.

She sets out to visit the pianist - with all the potential for dramatic (or even comic) tension as the happy families are torn apart. What she uncovers is the nature of evil. Mika, so sweet and helpful and caring, has a pathological disregard for others. She manipulates - with her wealth, her beauty, her charm, her sweetness, or any other weapon she can find.

This is a beautifully made film. . As an exploration of evil, it has great quality. But it is a film which doesn't really work. You can see where the story is going, you can enjoy the building tension, but ultimately the conclusion feels a bit tame. Except, Mika sheds a tear for her loss. Her husband does not. You wonder if he is so anaesthetised to any emotion other than the ones he experiences through music that he must share complicity in her crimes. He is so absorbed in his own self-importance as maestro, he simply fails to engage in the world around him. The pair are, indeed, suited to one another, but which one is most responsible for her crimes?

Claude Chabrol (Isabelle Huppert's husband) regularly makes liberal use of music in his films and this one is no exception. The direction of the piece echoes the changing mood of a concerto. The visuals are always elegant. And he celebrates his actors, particularly the female ones. This is an enjoyable film, and one which benefits from the 'making of' documentary and interview with Huppert which are offered as extras, but it is not Chabrol's best. A film to be enjoyed more for the quality of its acting than for its narrative satisfaction.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Very good French thriller with a somewhat rushed ending..., 13 Jan 2007
By Alcat Garcia "aka bel_78 // A.G. is just an a... (Buenos Aires, Argentina) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
"Merci pour le chocolat", directed by Claude Chabrol, is an interesting French thriller with an abrupt ending, that is nonetheless worth your time. The reasons for that are many, including a superb cast, an engaging story, and a director that manages to make the spectator part of the story. You are not in the movie, but you feel involved in what is happening...

The story begins when Jeanne (Anna Mouglalis), a young and talented pianist, learns that she might be the lost daughter of André Polonski (Jacques Dutronc). Jeanne is intrigued by the idea, specially due to the fact that André is a very famous pianist, and she wants to learn from him. Jeanne visits André's house, meeting him, his new wife Mika (Isabelle Huppert), and a son from a previous marriage, Guillaume. Even though André is certain that Jeanne is not his daughter, he is interested in her, inviting the young woman to his home. That kind gesture sets off a chain of events that are dangerous, specially for Jeanne, and that could be linked to the death of André's previous wife, Lisbeth.

What is going to happen? And can appearances be utterly deceiving? "Merci pour le chocolat" makes you ask yourself those questions more than once. On the whole, I think that this is a very good movie, and I recommended it to those who love good thrillers and don't mind a somewhat rushed ending.

Belen Alcat
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27 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Classic...., 2 Aug 2002
By A. Siaravas "minotaure" (LONDON, KENSINGTON United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
And the story goes... Merci Pour le Chocolat (Nightcap)" is about Andre (Jacques Dutronc), a recently widowed concert pianist. He marries his wife's best friend, Mika (Isabelle Huppert), who is the CEO of a large chocolate factory. Just when domestic bliss appears apparent, in walks Jeanne (Anna Mouglalis), an 18-year-old piano prodigy who may be Andre's daughter. Her presence not only upsets his son, Guillaume (Rodolphe Pauly), but also Mika...

An excellent film that reminds to us how important is the script for a good movie. Also, I give 5 for the actors and the photography. Watch it.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Spilled chocolat

Simply put, a cold case is an old case where evidence and suspicions have dried up, and is virtually impossible to solve unless there are new developments. Read more
Published 10 months ago by E. A Solinas

4.0 out of 5 stars I love it - but I fully accept all the criticisms
I adore this film, but at the same time I agree with many of of the negative points raised by other reviewers. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Tonkfan

1.0 out of 5 stars Great film, but crappy DVD!
I love Chabrol's films, and Merci Pour le Chocolate is very good. The problem is that this Artificial Eye DVD is terrible. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Markus Gossas

4.0 out of 5 stars Movie: Very Good. Huppert: Great
Mika Muller, wealthy owner of a Swiss chocolate company (and played by Isabelle Huppert) has just married Andre Polonski (Jacques Dutronc). Read more
Published 20 months ago by C. O. DeRiemer

3.0 out of 5 stars A mixed bag
Isabelle Hupert is always fascinating to watch. The film as a whole is interesting enough, but the ending fails to convince, even if one assumes, as one, must, that Mika is mad.
Published 21 months ago by Dominic Swayne

1.0 out of 5 stars Utterly pointless
I enjoy foreign language films, not just to improve my faltering language skills but as a blessed contrast to the usual Hollywood offerings. Read more
Published on 30 Dec 2006 by C. Wise

1.0 out of 5 stars What a pointless waste of time...
I wonder if the DVD of this film covered by some of your reviewers above was the same as the one that I watched. Yes, the lighting, scenery etc. Read more
Published on 17 Jul 2006 by John Connolly

3.0 out of 5 stars Isabelle Huppert and Anna Mougalis are outstanding
A film which starts, you imagine, as a nice French / Swiss comedy of manners as a rich, talented couple remarry after a separation of some twenty years or so. Read more
Published on 5 Jul 2005 by Budge Burgess

2.0 out of 5 stars French?
I got this film, expecting much. Imagine my horror when it turned out to be a load of old frenchies moaning on about stuff. Read more
Published on 15 Feb 2005 by davor278

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant film
This is a brilliant thriller. Don't expect a Hollywood-type thriller though - this is slow moving, with unexpected twists, and completely based on character rather than fast cuts... Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2004

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