"Passage of Time" is a lovely little piece, performed mainly by light, bouncy strings, lively flute and supporting harpsichord.
#Chocolat soundtrack full
It's really only in the last cues that Portman makes use of the sound of the full sympony orchestra. The ensemble is mostly kept quite small, which creates an intimate score, with a very pastorale sound. And let's not forget the charming main theme - a simple, but very lovely little ditty, it's hard not to like.
But Chocolat also has some French influences mixed in, which really is the largest reason this score is the lovely score I think it is - I find it easier to enjoy her music for Chocolat than her recent score for The Legend of Bagger Vance (which of course doesn't mean that I think the latter score is bad).Ĭhocolat makes me happy, with its upbeat strings and woodwinds, and its playful quitar, violin, accordion, and ethnic flutes ("Vianne Sets Up Shop"). Portman's score for Chocolat is in the same vein as her score for Emma and her other romantic comedy scores (there's a hint of Only You in there, as well) - it has the traditional Portman sound, with the strong strings, and soft woodwinds. The latter earning her an Academy Award nomination, but lost to Tan Dun, who surprisingly won a golden guy for his music for the hyped Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She proves to be the perfect composer to help Hallström project the tale's subversive feminine energies.Rachel Portman had quite a year in 2000 (well in 1999 as well, for that matter, thinking about her score for The Cider House Rules) with two succesful and praised scores for The Legend of Bagger Vance and Lasse Hallström's latest film, Chocolat. But Portman's is the film's most impressive performance. Depp's fans will undoubtedly be delighted by his impressive fretwork on the Django Reinhardt and Duke Ellington gypsy guitar pieces that begin and end the soundtrack album.
The music does not so much capture as create the whimsical and mysterious atmosphere of the film, blending breezy French orchestral allusions with otherworldly Andean flutes and rambling gypsy guitars in an effective sonic representation of the cultural clash between Juliette Binoche's South American mystic, Johnny Depp's Irish river rat, and the conservative French town that brings them together.
Throughout Chocolat, Portman's rich and airy melodies float sweetly across the screen, mischievously hinting at hidden meanings and darker themes. But Portman's score was a different story altogether. A year later, Hallström's adaptation of the Joanne Harris novel Chocolat was in many ways as charming and as vapid as Cider House. The score brought her an Oscar nomination, but lacked both the eclectic complexity ( Beloved) and the vibrant playfulness ( Emma) of her best work. Rachel Portman's innocuously pretty score for Hallström's innocuously pretty 1999 screen adaptation of The Cider House Rules played by the director's rules, melding pleasantly and forgettably into the glossy period landscape. The approach has its advantages, but the earnest limpidity of his vision can have a stultifying effect on his films. He is an old-school storyteller, preferring to step out of the way and let the story speak for itself. Swedish filmmaker Lasse Hallström's directorial style is marked by a taste for simplicity.
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