Description of Movies, 2007 Tucson Slow Food Film Festival
January 12-14, 2007
Please see Program for film times.
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Chocolat
The most tempting of all sweets becomes the key weapon in a battle of sensual pleasure versus disciplined self-denial in this comedy. In 1959, a mysterious woman named Vianne (Juliette Binoche) moves with her young daughter into a small French village, where much of the community's activities are dominated by the local Catholic church. A few days after settling into town, Vianne opens a chocolate shop (Maya Chocolate) across the street from the church shortly after the beginning of Lent. Not the most appropriate time for indulgence. While the townspeople are supposed to be abstaining from worldly pleasures, Vianne tempts them with unusual and delicious chocolate creations, using her expert touch including some chile to create just the right formula to break down each customer's resistance.
With every passing day, more and more of Vianne's neighbors succumb to her sinfully delicious treats. The town's mayor, the Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina) is not at all amused. He wants to run Vianne out of town.
Vianne, however, is not to be swayed. With the help of another new arrival, a handsome Irish Gypsy named Roux (Johnny Depp), she mounts a "Grand Festival of Chocolate" to be held on Easter Sunday.
Based on the novel by Joanne Harris, Chocolat includes cameo appearances by Dame Judi Dench and Leslie Caron.
Babette's Feast
Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and British BAFTA Award for Best Film of 1987.
One of the most classic of all food films, Babette's Feast is a Danish production of a short story written by Isak Dinesen (author of Out of Africa.) Stephane Audran plays Babette, a 19th century Parisian political refugee who seeks shelter in an austere Danish coastal village. Pilippa and Marina, the elderly spinster daughters of the town's long-dead minister, committed to good works, can not refuse to take Babette in to cook for them.
As revealed in flashback, Philippa and Martina were once beautiful young women who'd forsaken their chances at romance and fame, taking hollow refuse in Scandinavian religion.
Babette holds a secret and will make a profound sacrifice that may very well allow the sisters to have a second chance at finding joy in life. It is all contained in the fabulous meal known as Babette's Feast. The stark contrast between the Danish culture based on northern European Protestantism and Babette's southern European Catholic sensuality highlights the vast differences between these two cultures that are about to intersect and lead the sisters and other parishioners to a new understanding of true spirituality.
Ingmar Bergman favorite actress Bibi Andersson has a cameo role.
Tampopo
When truck drivers Goro and Gun happen onto a decrepit roadside fast food stand selling ramen noodles, they see that the business is not doing well and decide to help the young owner, Tampopo (Dandelion) turn her establishment into a model of the Japanese art of noodle soup making.
A secondary plot involves a white-suited gangster and his mistress who, among other things, check into a hotel and do things with prawns that have to be seen to be believed. Other side plots include an office intern who shows up his senior colleagues by ordering well at a French restaurant, a housewife who rises from her deathbed to cook one last meal for her family, and a women's etiquette class that teaches how to properly eat spaghetti.
The film is often cited as a good reference for learning about Japanese culture, particularly the role and importance of food in Japanese society. On particular display is the almost fanatic following enjoyed by well-prepared ramen in Japan.
Tampopo was very popular in Japan and on the North American art house circuit in the late 1980s where it was appreciated for its quirky approach. While many ramen restaurants in Japan claim to be THE ONE that inspired the shop in the film, there has never been any positive identification.
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