Chocolat (1988 film)

Chocolat
English-language film poster
Directed by	Claire Denis
Produced by	Alain Belmondo Gérard Crosnier
Written by	Claire Denis Jean-Pol Fargeau
Starring	Isaach De Bankolé François Cluzet Giulia Boschi
Music by	Abdullah Ibrahim
Cinematography	Robert Alazraki
Edited by	Monica Coleman Claudine Merlin Sylvie Quester
Distributed by	Orion Classics
Release date	1988
Running time	105 minutes
Country	France
Language	French
Box office	$8.3 million

Chocolat is a 1988 film directed by Claire Denis, about a French family that lives in colonial Cameroon. Marc and Aimée Dalens (François Cluzet and Giulia Boschi) are the parents of France (Cécile Ducasse), a young girl who befriends Protée (Isaach De Bankolé), a Cameroon native who is the family's household servant. The film was entered into the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.

The film begins with an adult woman named France, walking down a road toward Douala, Cameroon. While walking, she is picked up by William J. Park (Emmet Judson Williamson), an African American who has moved to Africa and is driving to Limbe with his son. As they ride, France's mind drifts and we see her as a young girl in Northern French Cameroon where her father was a colonial administrator. The story is conducted through the eyes of young France, showing her friendship with the "houseboy", Protée, as well the sexual tension between him and her young and beautiful mother, Aimée. The conflict of the film comes from the discomfort created as France and her mother attempt to move past the established boundaries between themselves and the native Africans. This is brought to a head through Luc Segalen (Jean-Claude Adelin), a Western drifter who stays with the Dalens family after a small aircraft crashes nearby. He makes public the evident sexual attraction between Aimée and Protée, prompting the mother to act on her desire. This results in a fight between Luc and Protée, who consequently loses his in-house job and is moved to work outdoors in the garage as a mechanic.

The title Chocolat comes from the 1950s slang meaning "to be cheated", and thus refers to the status in French Cameroon of being black and being cheated. Towards the end of the film, France's father reveals a central theme of the film as he explains to her what the horizon line is. He tells her that it is a line that is there but not there, a symbol for the racial boundary that exists in the country. This line is not a physical one but is still one that people widely recognize.

The soundtrack, performed and recorded by Abdullah Ibrahim, was released in 1988 as Mindif