neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Merci Pour Le Chocolat
	Claude Chabrol Isabelle Huppert, Jacques Dutronc, Rodolphe Pauly, Anna Mouglalis 2000		When a French director needs an actress to play a repressed, disturbed or duplicitous woman of a certain age, Euro-star Isabelle Huppert often gets the call. Claude Chabrol ("The Story of Women") is well acquainted with Huppert's capabilities, having directed her in a number of previous features. It must've been an easy decision for them to collaborate on the suspenser "Merci Pour le Chocolat," with its mercurial female lead and a darkly comic script intended to generate mystery and smirks in the tradition of Alfred Hitchcock's movies about the nastier side of human behavior. This time out, Huppert is the poised second wife of an acclaimed musician (Jacques Dutronc) and stepmother to his sullen, detached son (Rodolphe Pauly). All is tranquil until a talented young pianist (Anna Mouglalis) shows up at their door and cordially suggests that she might be the musician's daughter, and the son and wife don't take too kindly to the idea. "Merci Pour le Chocolat" should be sinister and droll, but it's curiously unaffecting and a little too slow-moving, despite deft performances from all involved.