Like a soap opera laced with poison

boris-26

Sometimes a comedic story idea could make for an emotionally engrossing thriller instead.  Such is the case with MERCI POUR LE CHOCOLAT.  Chabrol turns what would be a situation comedy plot into a compelling thriller about failed relationships.   A respected pianist Andre Polonski (Jacques Dutronc) figures that a maternity ward mishap caused him and his wife, Marie (Isabelle Hubbert) a chocolate manufacturer, to raise the wrong child.

           Their college age `son', Guillaume, actually belongs to somebody else.   Andre's real child seems to be Jeanne, (Anna Maoglalis) a lovely piano student.   Jeanne and her boyfriend, a medical lab intern, are trying to figure out what poison will do some undetected dirty work (Chabrol originally studied to be a pharmacist)   Chabrol started his career in the 1950's co-authoring well respected essays on Alfred Hitchcock with fellow countryman and future director Eric Rohmer.  Unlike DePalma with his very obvious `Hey, hey look, what Hitchcock film is my scene copied from?' Chabrol wisely keeps his Hitchcock copying to a minimum with subtle Hitchcock styled camera movement.   Instead of celebrating `technical innovation', Chabrol uses his camera to keep us gazing at the film's characters.

score /10

boris-26 8 February 2004

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0700440/