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MOVIES / ON DVD / MERCI POUR LE CHOCOLAT
Merci Pour le Chocolat

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Merci Pour le Chocolat (2002)

85%
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100%
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85 %
Reviews Counted: 48 Fresh: 41  Rotten:7 Average Rating: 7.2/10
 
Consensus: Boasting a masterful performance by Huppert, Merci Pour Le Chocolat is a suspenseful psychological thriller.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins

Synopsis: Lausanne, Switzerland, the present. Marie-Claire 'Mika' Muller (Isabelle Huppert), managing director of a chocolate company, is remarrying André (Jacques Dutronc), the concert pianist to whom she was briefly married 18 years before. During their time apart André had married Lisbeth,... Lausanne, Switzerland, the present. Marie-Claire 'Mika' Muller (Isabelle Huppert), managing director of a chocolate company, is remarrying André (Jacques Dutronc), the concert pianist to whom she was briefly married 18 years before. During their time apart André had married Lisbeth, now dead, and raised his child Guillaume (Rodolphe Pauly). Rumors abound that Guillaume had nearly been exchanged with another baby at birth.

That baby is now piano student Jeanne (Anna Mouglalis), a daughter of forensic scientist Madame Pollet (Brigitte Catillon) and lover of her trainee Axel (Matthieu Simonet). On discovering the mix-up that occured at the clinic where she was born, Jeanne visits André and an instant affinity between the two makes itself felt. Jeanne is told that Lisbeth died after falling asleep at the wheel of her car. Mika drops a flask of hot chocolate she regularly prepares in a way that raises Jeanne's suspicions. Jeanne has her pullover, stained with the chocolate, analysed by Axel and discovers that the drink was spiked with the sleeping drug Rohypnol. Guillaume dismisses Jeanne's fears that the spiked drink could have been meant for him, and revelas that when Lisbeth was killed she and André, short of funds, had been staying with Mika. Jeanne is invited to spend a few days studying the piano with André, and is told by her mother that she was conceived by artificial insemination.

At dinner Mika reveals that she was an adopted child. She encourages closeness between Jeanne and Guillaume, and 'inadvertently' spills hot water on her stepson's foot. André has run out of Rohypnol, to which he is addicted. accompanied by Guillaume, who now share her suspicions, Jeanne drives into town to collect a fresh supply. André accuses Mika of Lisbeth's death by spiking her cognac with Rophypnol. Mika owns up. It becomes plain that she also spiked the after-dinner coffee when Jeanne is overcome by somnolence at the wheel; her car crashes into a wall. Neither Jeanne nor Guillaume is hurt. Mika passively awaits justice. -- © Empire Pictures [More]

Genre: Foreign Films

Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Jacques Dutronc, Anna Mouglalis, Rodolphe Pauly, Brigitte Catillon

Director: Claude Chabrol
Screenwriter: Caroline Eliacheff, Claude Chabrol
Producer: Marin Karmitz
Composer: Matthieu Chabrol

DVD Info

Release:

Oct 4, 2004

[DVD Details]

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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N/R

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Full Review | comment Comment
01/26/06
Derek Adams
Time Out
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N/R

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Full Review | comment Comment
12/15/03
Matthew Bond
Daily Mail [UK]
N/R

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Full Review | comment Comment
06/20/02
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
05/10/02
Neil Norman
This is London
Ratings Image
4/5

Isabelle Huppert excels as the enigmatic Mika and Anna Mouglalis is a stunning new young talent in one of Chabrol's most intense psychological mysteries.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/25/01
George Perry
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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3/5

Huppert’s superbly controlled display of murderous vulnerability ensures that malice has a very human face.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/08/01
David Parkinson
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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N/A

French cinema's definitive Comeback Kid has done it again.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/07/01
Keith Reader
Sight and Sound
N/R

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Full Review | comment Comment
06/06/08
Derek Elley
Variety
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4/5

No review available.

comment Comment
07/03/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
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B-

The ensemble cast all sparkled.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/13/03
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
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3/5

Weighty and ponderous but every bit as filling as the treat of the title.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/26/03
Harry Guerin
RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)
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7/10

Huppert's show to steal and she makes a meal of it, channeling Kathy Baker's creepy turn as the repressed mother on Boston Public as much as 8 Women's Augustine.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/07/03
Jon Popick
Planet Sick-Boy
N/R

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Full Review | comment Comment
12/07/02
Houston Chronicle
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B

A fascinating piece...assured and frequently witty.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/02/02
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion
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C+

A tasty appetizer that leaves you wanting more.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/29/02
Philip Wuntch
Dallas Morning News
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2.5/5

The big finish is a bit like getting all excited about a chocolate eclair and then biting into it and finding the filling missing.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/29/02
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com
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3/4

An elegant, exquisitely modulated psychological thriller.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/08/02
Susan Stark
Detroit News
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3.5/5

Hitch would enjoy the way Chabrol plays with the audience (including the expertly interwoven Lizt requiem)

Full Review | comment Comment
10/29/02
John A. Nesbit
ToxicUniverse.com
Ratings Image
2/4

Like being invited to a classy dinner soiree and not knowing anyone. You leave the same way you came -- a few tasty morsels under your belt, but no new friends.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/24/02
Laura Kelly
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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3.5/4

Credit Huppert as much as Chabrol for the film's success.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/21/02
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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