Chocolat

1	Minor Swing / Rachel Portman
2	Main Titles / Rachel Portman
3	The Story of Grandmere / Rachel Portman
4	Vianne Sets Up Shop / Rachel Portman
5	Three Woman / Rachel Portman
6	Vianne Confronts the Comte / Rachel Portman
7	Other Possibilities / Rachel Portman
8	Guillaume's Confession / Rachel Portman
9	Passage of Time / Rachel Portman
10	Boycott Immorality / Rachel Portman
11	Party Preparations / Rachel Portman
12	Chocolate Sauce / Rachel Portman
13	Fire / Rachel Portman
14	Vianne Gazes at the River / Rachel Portman
15	Mayan Bowl Breaks / Rachel Portman
16	Taste of Chocolate / Rachel Portman
17	Ashes to the Wind/Roux Returns / Rachel Portman
18	Caravan / Rachel Portman

Barnes & Noble

Ah, the joys of chocolate! Grammy-nominated composer Rachel Portman (The Cider House Rules) has produced a delicious score to accompany Lasse Halstrom's Chocolat, the tale of a small French town turned upside down by pretty Juliette Binoche and her sweet confections. Beginning with the foot-tapping "Minor Swing," Portman creates the mood of the village, which is both enchanted and threatened by the arrival of Vianne (Binoche). In "Vianne Sets Up Shop," Portman uses pan flutes, a Joe Venuti-style jazzy violin part, plus accordion and guitar to precisely convey the busy, cheerful actions of Vianne preparing for business. Filled with good humor, pathos, and even a little confusion, Portman's music joyfully and thoughtfully captures the sweet, good-natured spirit of Chocolat. Her gift for orchestration is obvious throughout, with the lush, string- and harp-filled "Boycott Immorality" best capturing her talent. With the Golden Globe-nominated Chocolat, Portman has once again composed movie music of unmatched beauty, skill, and fun. Jane Komarov

All Music Guide

Swedish filmmaker Lasse Hallström's directorial style is marked by a taste for simplicity. He is an old-school storyteller, preferring to step out of the way and let the story speak for itself. The approach has its advantages, but the earnest limpidity of his vision can have a stultifying effect on his films. 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 score brought her an Oscar nomination, but lacked both the eclectic complexity (Beloved) and the vibrant playfulness (Emma) of her best work. A year later, Hallström's adaptation of the Joanne Harris novel Chocolat was in many ways as charming and as vapid as Cider House. But Portman's score was a different story altogether. Throughout Chocolat, Portman's rich and airy melodies float sweetly across the screen, mischievously hinting at hidden meanings and darker themes. 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. 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. But Portman's is the film's most impressive performance. She proves to be the perfect composer to help Hallström project the tale's subversive feminine energies. Evan Cater