Both Huppert and Chabrol are prolific and last year they worked together yet again on a movie light years ahead of this one but when one is prolific one is playing the percentages and winds up with a high chaff to wheat ratio as both have done here. Perhaps most risible is the scene towards the end that appears to be Chabrol's version of the heroine walking the corridors of the Gothic castle at three in the morning wearing only a negligee and armed only with a candle in the full knowledge that there are murderers, maniacs, vampires, perm any one from three, on the loose. Chabrol's take on this is to have a young girl volunteer to drive the car of her hostess along a winding road at night in the full knowledge that the hostess has drugged her drink. Realistically all she had to do was let the hostess, Huppert, drive herself to the pharmacy to collect a prescription, or even, if it comes to that, let the chauvinistic husband (Dutronc) pick up his own prescription. This is but one in a series of plot holes that may well be symbolised by the cobweb shawl Huppert is knitting throughout. Children swapped at birth (well, it was good enough for Shakespeare, Chabrol may argue),one of them the child of a forensic lab owner with a boyfriend working there, so convenient for testing possible toxins the spider-woman may be lacing the drinks with. More? How about this: confronted by a strange girl who claims she may be his daughter Dutronc goes from 'you must be mad' to 'come and play a little four-hand piano with me' in minutes.

The colors are of that strangely muted type that Chabrol seems to have made his own, the two young actors clearly came in a flat-pack from IKEA and there's a lack of interaction throughout. Isabelle Huppert's Mika runs the gamut from cold-blooded murderess to charming hostess hitting all the stops along the way whilst Jacques Dutronc appropriately turns in a Johnny-One-Note performance. Not one that either Chabrol or Huppert would want to feature prominently on their CVs.

I mostly went to see "Merci pour le chocolat" because I had never seen a Claude Chabrol movie, so I have no basis of comparison with his other work.

The veddy British subtitles called it "Night Cap" which is much less interesting and resonant of the movie's images than the title of the novel it's based on, "The Chocolate Web," which was written by Charlotte Armstrong, but seems very Ruth Rendellian.

Isabelle Huppert of course is never uninteresting to watch, though this is the second movie in a row where the poor woman had to play a successful, middle-aged career woman with a serious problem, as in "The Piano Teacher (La Pianiste)." Hmm, do the French have a problem with such women, making them so twisted?

The movie starts out like a family saga of family businesses and secrets; I even thought it was going to do for the chocolate industry what "Les Destinees sentimentales" did for the porcelain industry.

But gradually the relationships come together into a mystery that doesn't quite pay off but gives a few horror chills in the process.

(originally written 9/2/2002)

This film dares to be different, and I can really respect that. The film is about a young lady who introjects herself into the lives of a nearby family. Why this occurs really isn't all that important. However, once involved, she stumbles on the idea that the wife in this family is drugging their hot cocoa. Throughout the film, we learn that she is actually the second wife--the first one died from a combination of alcohol and a sedative while driving. When the girl discovers this, she combines her knowledge that the lady had put drugs in the cocoa and realizes she probably murdered the first wife.

All this is really interesting and makes for a thriller getting a score of 8 or 9 on IMDb EXCEPT FOR ONE STUPID PLOT DEVICE--how could this young lady have possibly guessed that the cocoa was drugged? It just doesn't make logical sense and she barely knew the family when she had this suspicion. PLUS, incredibly enough, her own boyfriend boyfriend just happens to work at the lab owned by her own mother so he can test a sample to prove that it was tainted. Oh, and minor miracle of minor miracles, the lab just HAPPENS to be a forensics lab. What an amazing coincidence!!!!! Please--next time, show a little more respect for the intelligence of the audience and don't let silly plot elements like this negatively influence an otherwise excellent film! Wow--and this film came so close to being great.

Oh, and one other comment. Isabelle Huppert's performance in the film at times appears to be that of a zombie. She stares off into space a lot and when confronted she just sits there. I would have expected that when a murderer is confronted ALONE that there would be a fair likelihood that the murderer would then kill the person who confronted them (or at least make an attempt)--but not this time.