Chocolat - Forbidden Longing
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Chocolat - Forbidden Longing for Chocolat |
| Country of production |
France Federal Republic of Germany Cameroon |
| original language |
French English |
| Publishing year | 1988 |
| length | 105 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Claire Denis |
| script | Claire Denis Jean-Pol Fargeau |
| production |
Alain Belmondo Gérard Crosnier |
| music | Abdullah Ibrahim |
| camera | Robert Alazraki |
| cut |
Monica Coleman Claudine Merlin Sylvie Quester |
| occupation | |
| |
Chocolat - Verbotene Sehnsucht is a French-German-Cameroonian drama directed by Claire Denis from 1988.
action
Young France returned to Cameroon as a visitor in the 1980s. She is taken part of the way by car by a man with a son and remembers her childhood.
Cameroon 1957, shortly before the end of the colonial era: France is still a girl and is growing up as the only child of the administrative officer and local governor Marc Dalens and his wife Aimée. She lives in nature and is often alone. Her company is kept by Protée, the boy of the family, who has earned the trust of the Dalens family and who lives as an outsider like the girl. He is a servant, cleaner, translator, nanny and protector when Marc is out on inspection. He always stays in the background and, although he makes himself indispensable, is "only" seen as a servant. Aimée, who is secretly drawn to him, suppresses her feelings, just as he suffers from his love for her, but just as abruptly prevents any approach from her side. Above all stands the unspoken truth that he is just the boy of the family, who is also often overlooked for granted.
Aimée's everyday life is largely uneventful. Visits to the Norwegian neighbors, the visit of the Briton Jonathan Boothby, who is courting Aimée drunk in Marc's absence, an argument with the cook who cannot cook French food ... One day everyday life is interrupted by an emergency plane landing. A propeller is destroyed and needs to be replaced. In the field, Cameroonians are also starting to build a runway for the aircraft. The strangers, including the racist plantation owner Joseph Delpich, Machinard and his wife and the bon vivant Luc, stay on Dalens' property for around a month. All are hostile to the blacks and disrupt the fragile social equilibrium on site. Protée despises Luc, who tries to match the black employees of the household. He takes a shower in the boys' shower, sleeps outside on the floor and finally refuses to eat at the table, but instead shares his meals with the servants of the house. In the evening he teases Protée with his admiration for Aimée and openly shows his contempt for him. Protée throws his bedding off the porch and a duel ensues in which Protée throws Luc out. Aimée, who approaches Protée, is roughly rejected by him. Aimée gets Marc through that Protée disappears from the household. He is now employed by the garages. When he was working on the property's generator one evening, France went to see him. She asks if a certain component is hot and he takes hold of it. She in turn burns her hand immediately - Protée, who also burned his hand, looks at her motionless and walks away.
A little later the aircraft is ready to take off again. The strangers leave the place and the friends of the Norwegians also leave. France stands with her parents with a bandaged hand and says goodbye to the travelers.
As a young woman, France wants to visit her parents' home. The man who drove her advises her to go to the airport. He reads neither the past nor the future from her hand. He refuses a drink together. France follows his advice and finally waits for her plane at the airport.
production
Chocolat - Verbotene Sehnsucht was the directorial debut of Claire Denis, who grew up as the daughter of a colonial official in Africa and only came to Paris at the age of 14. Although the film is not autobiographical, "the emotional memories [...] are authentic." The work on the film script began in 1985 and shooting began in 1987. The film was shot on location in Cameroon, including Mindif . Christian Gasc created the costumes, Thierry Flamand designed the film . The film title Chocolat refers to a slang expression from the 1950s, which translated means "[to be black and] to be cheated".
The film was screened on May 18, 1988 as part of the 1988 Cannes Film Festival . In the Federal Republic he was seen in the cinema from August 24, 1989.
criticism
Chocolat - Forbidden Longing is a film that is narrated with empathy in “clear images and calm shots, which offers a very personal look into the inner workings of colonialism in long flashbacks”, according to the film-dienst . “Criticism of colonialism, packaged in an erotic way,” said Cinema . Roger Ebert praised Chocolat - Verbotene Sehnsucht , which was one of the best films of the year.
Awards
At the 1988 Cannes International Film Festival, the film ran in 1988 in the competition for the Palme d'Or . Chocolat - Verbotene Sehnsucht was nominated in 1989 for a César in the category of best debut and in the same year was voted one of the best international films of the year by the National Board of Review .
Web links
- Chocolat - Forbidden desire in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The African friend . In: Der Spiegel , No. 34, 1989, p. 179.
- ^ Marie Craven, Raffaele Caputo: Chocolat: An Interview with Claire Denis (1989) . raffaelecaputo.wordpress.com, June 11, 2011.
- ↑ The Sensationalist: Claire Denis's "Chocolat" Returns, Still Sensual and Illuminating . villagevoice.com, September 15, 2015.
- ↑ Chocolat - Forbidden Longing. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Chocolat - Verbotene Sehnsucht on cinema.de
- ↑ Chocolat on rogerebert.com