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Nightcap

Original title: Merci pour le chocolat
  • 2000
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 41m
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
6.2K
YOUR RATING
Nightcap (2000)
CrimeDramaMysteryThriller

In Lausanne, the aspirant pianist Jeanne Pollet has lunch with her mother Louise Pollet, her boyfriend Axel and his mother. Lenna leans that when she was born, a nurse had mistakenly told to... Read allIn Lausanne, the aspirant pianist Jeanne Pollet has lunch with her mother Louise Pollet, her boyfriend Axel and his mother. Lenna leans that when she was born, a nurse had mistakenly told to the prominent pianist André Polonski that she would be his daughter. André has just remar... Read allIn Lausanne, the aspirant pianist Jeanne Pollet has lunch with her mother Louise Pollet, her boyfriend Axel and his mother. Lenna leans that when she was born, a nurse had mistakenly told to the prominent pianist André Polonski that she would be his daughter. André has just remarried his first wife, the heiress of a Swiss chocolate factory Marie-Claire "Mika" Muller a... Read all

  • Director
    • Claude Chabrol
  • Writers
    • Caroline Eliacheff
    • Claude Chabrol
    • Charlotte Armstrong
  • Stars
    • Isabelle Huppert
    • Jacques Dutronc
    • Anna Mouglalis
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.7/10
    6.2K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Claude Chabrol
    • Writers
      • Caroline Eliacheff
      • Claude Chabrol
      • Charlotte Armstrong
    • Stars
      • Isabelle Huppert
      • Jacques Dutronc
      • Anna Mouglalis
    • 52User reviews
    • 84Critic reviews
    • 83Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 4 wins & 2 nominations total

    Photos21

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    Top cast23

    Edit
    Isabelle Huppert
    Isabelle Huppert
    • Marie-Claire 'Mika' Muller
    Jacques Dutronc
    Jacques Dutronc
    • André Polonski
    Anna Mouglalis
    Anna Mouglalis
    • Jeanne Pollet
    Rodolphe Pauly
    Rodolphe Pauly
    • Guillaume Polonski
    Brigitte Catillon
    Brigitte Catillon
    • Louise Pollet
    Michel Robin
    Michel Robin
    • Dufreigne
    Mathieu Simonet
    Mathieu Simonet
    • Axel
    Lydia Andrei
    • Lisbeth
    Véronique Alain
    • Madame le Maire
    Isolde Barth
    Isolde Barth
    • Pauline
    Jacqueline Burnand
    François Germond
    Antoinette Martin
    Michel Moulin
    Dorotea Brandin
    Dorotea Brandin
    Jean-Marie Daunas
    Catherine Epars
    Rodolphe Ittig
    • Director
      • Claude Chabrol
    • Writers
      • Caroline Eliacheff
      • Claude Chabrol
      • Charlotte Armstrong
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews52

    6.76.2K
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    Featured reviews

    5Matteo-18

    See it for the acting, but...

    The performances, particularly that of Isabelle Huppert, are about the only thing to recommend this film. It certainly looks stylish and polished, but if you give one moment's thought to it, you'll realize that not one bit of the plot makes any sense. To top it off, the denouement's arrival comes out of left field, thereby leaving it far from being credible. This film will certainly not be remembered.
    petershelleyau

    more carob, than chocolate

    After seeing this film, I wanted to rush to read the Charlotte Armstrong novel The Chocolate Cobweb, not because I was wowed by the source material but rather to try and fathom what on earth she was trying for. Perhaps the fault can be blamed on the adaptation by Caroline Eliacheff and director Claude Chabrol. It's hard to know but what is certain is that this treatment poses more questions than it answers. Mysteries can be fun without having all the motivations explained, since human behaviour is often inexplicable, but here I found I had the same response as in Chabrol's La Ceremonie when Jacqueline Bisset's family are blown away - shock and disbelief. The plot contrivance that leads Anna Mouglalis to the house of Isabelle Huppert and Jacques Dutronc is as tenuous as a spider's web. One hears it and thinks, this can't be all there is?! And whilst Huppert supplies some intriguing duplicitious body language - note the movement of her legs as subtext in the scene where she visits Mouglalis' mother - there is more suggested than actually revealed. It also reminded me of the non-end to Chabrol's L'Enfer, where he dared not provide a conclusion to the unfinished screenplay by Henri-Georges Clouzot. Chabrol's camera occasionally pans past Huppert to make observations, and the edit from a photo of Dutronc's first wife whom Mouglalis resembles (the actress plays her in flashback) to Mouglalis listening to music, her hands covering her face in the identical pose, is amusing. But the climactic revelation at the end has no weight, as arbitrary as Huppert's movement from sitting enveloped by her web-patterned lacework, to a long one take closeup where she cries, to folding into a foetal position. The titular chocolate is a red herring, but I was more disappointed that the implication of incest with her son had no basis. Perhaps one's inclination to project onto the narrative is an indication of it's lack of focus. Mouglalis conveys a strong screen presence, and perhaps because Huppert and Chabrol have worked together to great effect before, one's expectations of her contribution in his films is high. But I can't feel I can criticise Huppert. She seems keyed to do something that the screenplay never brings to fruition. Hoping that a second viewing will make the filmmakers objectives clearer is never a good sign.
    boris-26

    Like a soap opera laced with poison

    Sometimes a comedic story idea could make for an emotionally engrossing thriller instead. Such is the case with MERCI POUR LE CHOCOLAT. Chabrol turns what would be a situation comedy plot into a compelling thriller about failed relationships. A respected pianist Andre Polonski (Jacques Dutronc) figures that a maternity ward mishap caused him and his wife, Marie (Isabelle Hubbert) a chocolate manufacturer, to raise the wrong child.

    Their college age `son', Guillaume, actually belongs to somebody else. Andre's real child seems to be Jeanne, (Anna Maoglalis) a lovely piano student. Jeanne and her boyfriend, a medical lab intern, are trying to figure out what poison will do some undetected dirty work (Chabrol originally studied to be a pharmacist) Chabrol started his career in the 1950's co-authoring well respected essays on Alfred Hitchcock with fellow countryman and future director Eric Rohmer. Unlike DePalma with his very obvious `Hey, hey look, what Hitchcock film is my scene copied from?' Chabrol wisely keeps his Hitchcock copying to a minimum with subtle Hitchcock styled camera movement. Instead of celebrating `technical innovation', Chabrol uses his camera to keep us gazing at the film's characters.
    7ruby_fff

    A true Chabrol thriller drama - masterful encore

    It's a thriller, suspenseful, yet not pushy in its pace. The plot progression edges on at its own natural tempo, with piano recitals punctuating the interludes while, yes, we worry about Mika Muller (Huppert's character) - whatever might she be up to in spite of her ever so charming and outwardly friendly disposition, or is she?

    In a way, it's a (light) psychological murder drama, and we kinda know the seed of evil is with Huppert's character. The trailer and the advertising synopsis suggested that obvious clue. But somehow, it didn't decrease the level of suspense. Huppert again exercises her art of subtle acting - that nonchalant facial expression that hardly flinches or betrays her suppressed inner conflicting feelings behind the mask of well-groomed outfits and demeanor.

    For the most part, we follow the interaction between the other characters (good supporting cast): Mika's husband André Polonski (Jacques Dutronc) the famous pianist, the sluggish step-son Guillaume (Rodolphe Pauly) whom Polonski wants to cherish but has not the time to understand the growing teenager - whose mother, Polonski's beloved wife Lisbeth, died in a car accident years ago, and Jeanne Pollet (Anna Mouglalis) the newly introduced excitement in Polonski's life - a protégée eager to win a piano competition, and Jeanne's widowed mother Dr. Pollet (Brigitte Catillon) who heads the crime lab. Jeanne is an intelligent young woman besides being a talented pianist with potential, and we led to believe her suspicion about Mika and her serving of hot chocolate nightcaps to the Polonski's.

    Chabrol's writing and directing style never thrust obvious murderous threads in front of us. There are no actual blood or acts of violence we see. Everything seems so civil. Clues are suggestive through conversational exchange between the characters and outside of the frames. That's the masterful beauty of a Claude Chabrol piece - exquisitely presented and delightful to enjoy at ease.

    The notion of serving up possibly 'poisoned' hot chocolate does remind one of Hitchcock's 1941 "Suspicion" with Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine, including a similar driving scene yet outcome reveals off camera cleverly through a conversation.

    Lately, Huppert's taken on roles that are, perhaps, psychologically in need of TLC (tender loving care): here in "Merci pour le chocolat", in Haneke's "The Piano Teacher", and in Ozon's who dunnit musical "8 Women" - she actually gets to have the most changes of outfit (3) than the other 7 actresses, besides performing her number in 'talk through' style sitting down at the piano vs. dancing around singing the song. She's having fun in portraying such characters, no doubt.

    If you enjoy foreign movies, a French thriller drama with subtitles by Ian Burley (who did the wonderful translated subtitles to the Italian film "Bread and Tulips"), "Merci pour le chocolat" is for you. Enjoy!
    8merlin-105

    The Fun is in the Details

    The plot may not be particularly clever, but watching Huppert's brilliant, tense, technically outstanding acting in the role of a woman in search of a nervous breakdown against Dutronc's nonchalant, understated, simmering portrayal of a seedy pillhead, seemingly oblivious to what's going on around him, is worth the price of admission and then some! Supporting characters are all excellent, though the young girl is a bit too wide-eyed for her own good. The movie is also fun to watch just for its use of color, clothing, and art as symbols, including allusions to earlier Huppert classics like "La Dentelliere". While this might not be Chabrol's masterpiece, it would be a good example for any young director to study how a veteran uses the elements of his craft most economically to greatest effect. As for actors: watch Isabelle Huppert's face in the close-up during the long, final shot -- there's a whole acting lesson right there. Not a perfect movie, but enjoyable to watch if you have a mind for such details.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      At the time this movie was shot, the house was owned by David Bowie, who was trying to sell it.
    • Goofs
      At around 40 minutes in, when Mika is talking to Dr. Pollet in the hospital, two crew members' feet and a cable (possibly the boom mic's cable) are visibly moving, reflected on the side of a table. This shot lasts for approx 50 seconds.
    • Connections
      References Night at the Crossroads (1932)
    • Soundtracks
      Funérailles
      de Franz Liszt

      Par Claudio Arrau

      Copyright Philips Classics

      Avec l'aimable autorisation de Universal Music Projets Spéciaux

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    FAQ16

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 25, 2000 (France)
    • Countries of origin
      • France
      • Switzerland
    • Official sites
      • Swiss Films page
      • Unifrance page
    • Language
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Merci pour le Chocolat
    • Filming locations
      • Bulle, Canton de Fribourg, Switzerland
    • Production companies
      • MK2 Productions
      • CAB Productions
      • France 2 Cinéma
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $443,238
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $14,868
      • Aug 4, 2002
    • Gross worldwide
      • $7,972,251
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 41 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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