CHOCOLAT

France 1988 - DCP - 105 minutes, in English and in French and Hausa with English subtitles

Director: Claire Denis

Screenplay: Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fergeau

Producers: Alain Belmondo, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Gérard Crosnier

Cast: Isaach De Bankolé, Mireille Perrier, Francois Cluzet, Jacques Denis, Giulia Boschi

Print Courtesy: Janus Films

When Chocolat was first shown in 1988, we didn’t know what to expect from “A Claire Denis film,” as Chocolat was her first feature. We still don’t, but we sure can recognize it as indeed that—a Claire Denis film, as distinctive as a Hitchcock or an Altman film. Her work in the 35 years since Chocolat—including Beau Travail, Nenette et Boni, High Life and, more recently, Let the Sunshine In, Both Sides of the Blade and Stars at Noon, marks the output of one of the great directors of our time. If Chocolat seems not quite as edgy, it’s only because she was always so far ahead of us.

“Made with the complexity and subtlety of a great short story”

(Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun-Times), Chocolat drew on Denis’ own childhood experiences growing up in colonial French Africa for her multilayered, languorously absorbing feature debut, which explores many of the themes that would recur throughout her work.

Saturday, July 8 1PM | WOH

Sunday, July 16 4PM | WOH

Returning to the town where she grew up in Cameroon after many years living in France, a white woman (Mireille Perrier) reflects on her relationship with Protée (Isaach De Bankolé), a Black servant with whom she formed a friendship while not fully grasping the racial divides that governed their worlds. With a key soundtrack by Abdullah Ibrahim. —KE Sponsored by Kathryn Slott

Sunday, July 9 3PM | MFC 1

Friday, July 14 9:40PM | MFC 2