CHOCOLAT
Director: Roschdy Zem
Cast: Omar Sy, James Thierree, Clotilde Hesme, Olivier Gourmet, Frederic Pierrot, Noemie Lvovsky
Rating: (M)
Three stars (out of five)
It’s bolstered by a couple of good performances from Omar Sy (The Intouchables) as the clown Chocolat (real name Rafael), and James Thierree, the grandson of one Charlie Chaplin, as George Foottit, whom we first meet as a washed-up clown in need of a new gimmick, when he discovers the talented Rafael performing at a travelling circus in rural France.
Teaming up as Foottit and Chocolat, a double act consisting of a white authoritarian clown and a black auguste, or happy clown, they go on to cause a sensation in early 20th-century Paris, but movie biopics being what they are, the giddy heights of fame are soon followed by tragedy, doom and, of course, laudanum.
I admit to not being familiar with this tale at all, but a quick Wikipedia check gave me enough background information to deduce that it’s a somewhat fictionalised version of events, lightly skimming over the themes you’d expect (racism, injustice, the artistic plight of French clowns etc.) while being, as a character study, largely inert.
What it does have are great production values, a strong narrative drive, and a keen sense of time and place that should please circus historians just as much as those less inclined towards the clownly arts.
- Jeremy Quinn
