Themes: Sexual Awakening, Twentysomething Life, Mothers and Daughters
Main Cast: Wendy Crewson, Karyn Dwyer, Christina Cox, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Peter Outerbridge
Release Year: 1999
Country: CA
Run Time: 101 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Better Than Chocolate is a lesbian love story. Walking home from an evening at the lesbian club 'Cat's Ass,' Maggie is confronted by a gang of skinheads. Suddenly a minibus comes to a screeching halt and out jumps Kim. The skins move on, and Maggie thanks Kim, who watches her go. This is their first meeting. Maggie has recently dropped out of law school and now works in a women's shop. To avoid a confrontation with her mother, she makes up a success story and tells her that she's living in a beautiful apartment. As her mother is having her difficulties with her second husband, she decides to take her young son and come to live with Maggie for a while. Meanwhile, Maggie is housesitting the apartment of a female performer on tour. As fate might have it, she runs across Kim again and they find themselves at the new apartment making love in the shower -- at which moment Maggie's mother and little brother step in. The film was screened as part of the Panorama section of the 49th International Berlin Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
Review
Better Than Chocolate is the tale of two women in lust with each other in Vancouver. The story is both sweet and energetic in its attempts to showcase the not so simple lives of these lesbians. Maggie abandons college to work in a bookstore while Kim, a vivacious blond, has set her easel up very close to the bookstore. It isn't long before they are seriously in lust and consummating their relationship in Kim's van. What they don't expect is a visit from Maggie's mother and brother. This is where the movie gets confused. It can't decide if it wants to be a thoughtful examination of the coming out process or an erotic gaze at lesbian love. In the attempt to please everyone, Better Than Chocolate did little more than blandly entertain but critically confuse its audience. If taken as an erotic piece, Better Than Chocolate scores off the map with various sexy scenes. Director Ann Wheeler has no difficulty directing credible, passionate scenes. The character of Maggie's mother, Lila, is one worth watching and exploring. Wendy Crewson did a superb job shaping a character accepting and dealing with the transitions in life. This film really is the story of Lila and Judy, the transgender friend of Maggie. Wheeler would have been better off focusing on these two directly and ignoring the lust of Maggie and Kim. Conversely the director could have made a straight-up erotic film about the two lovers. Either one could have been a highly successful and interesting endeavor. ~ Laura Abraham, All Movie Guide
Type: Soundtrack, Lyrics are included with the album, Contains explicit content
Genre: Soundtrack
Review
A somewhat lukewarm collection of girl-power songs is featured on the film soundtrack Better Than Chocolate. The album alternates between sexy dance-pop tunes, poetic folky songs, and the occasional cabaret tune. Highlights include "32 Flavors" by Ani DiFranco and "I'm Not a Fucking Drag Queen" by Peter Outerbridge. ~ Stacia Proefrock, All Music Guide
Ferron (Performer), West End Girls (Performer), Ani DiFranco (Producer), Ani DiFranco (Performer), Ani DiFranco (Mixing), Lorraine Bowen (Performer), Joe Chiccarelli (Producer), John R. Dexter (Programming), John R. Dexter (Producer), John R. Dexter (Executive Producer), Rick Kilburn (Producer), Mark Peters (Assistant Engineer), Ed Stone (Engineer), Ed Stone (Mixing), Swift (Remixing), Tom Heron (Assistant Engineer), George Graves (Mastering), Blair Calibaba (Mixing), Ralph Alfonso (CD Art Adaptation), Gladys Stacey (Producer), Edgar (Performer), Janet York (Music Supervisor), L. Bowen (Producer), K. Brock (Producer), K. Brock (Mixing), L. Doucette (Producer), M. Ellis (Programming), M. Ellis (Engineer), M. Ellis (Mixing), Kharen Hill (Photography), K. Joss (Producer), Kool (Remixing), Lacquer Channel (Mastering), K. McKay (Engineer), Rosamond Norbury (Photography), N. Piper (Producer), P. Ruskey (Producer), N. Scobie (Programming), N. Scobie (Engineer), N. Scobie (Mixing), Nancy Szastkiw (Soundtrack Coordination), J. Webster (Producer), C. Zurba (Producer), C. Zurba (Mixing), Kelly Brock (Performer), Peter Outerbridge (Performer), Trippy (Performer), Tami Greer (Performer), Melanie Dekker (Performer), Mike James (Producer), Mike James (Executive Producer)
Maggie (Karyn Dwyer) has recently moved out on her own, and has started a relationship with another woman, Kim (Christina Cox). However, Maggie's mother Lila (Wendy Crewson) and brother, who are forced to move into her tiny loft sublet with her, are unaware that she is a lesbian. Maggie's freedom is compromised, and she believes she must keep her blossoming affair a secret. However, the clandestine romance introduces Maggie's family to a host of new experiences, many of which are "better than chocolate."
The cast also includes Ann-Marie MacDonald as Frances, the owner of a lesbian bookstore where Maggie works, and Peter Outerbridge as Judy, a transwoman with an unrequited crush on Frances.
Awards
The film won numerous awards at film festivals around the world and was ranked 31st on the Hollywood Reporter's Top 200 independent films list of 1999. It is one of Canada's highest grossing films of all time according to the Cannes Film Festival Website.
Background
The film takes its name from a lyric in Sarah McLachlan's song "Ice Cream", "Your love is better than chocolate". Veena Sood, the sister of McLachlan's then-husband Ashwin Sood, has a small role in the film as a religious protestor.
The plot line about the bookstore is a fairly direct reference to Vancouver's Little Sister's Book and Art Emporium and its travails with Canada Customs. The bookstore is thanked in the credits.[1] Ann-Marie MacDonald, who plays the bookstore's owner, is a well-known Canadian author.
The movie poster, which shows two women embracing and one woman's naked back, was banned by the Hong Kong Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority as it was deemed "offensive to public morality, decency and ordinary good taste."[2] An advertisement in the San Diego Union-Tribune was also banned, due to the word "lesbian" being present on the movie poster.[3][4]
Great Grand Mother (1975) ·Augusta (1976) ·A War Story (1981) ·Loyalties (1986) ·Cowboys Don't Cry (1988) ·Bye Bye Blues (1989) ·Angel Square (1990) ·Better Than Chocolate (1999) ·Marine Life (2000) ·The Orkney Lad: The Story of Isabel Gunn (2000) ·Legs Apart (2000) ·Suddenly Naked (2001) ·Edge of Madness (2002) ·
TV Films
The Diviners (1993) ·Other Women's Children (1993) ·The War Between Us (1995) ·The Investigation (2002) ·Betrayed (2002) ·A Beachcombers Christmas (2003) ·Christmas on Chestnut Street (2006) ·Me, Mom, Dad and Her (2007) ·Mail Order Bride (2008) ·Living Out Loud (2008) ·Dancing Trees (Partners in Crime (2008) ·
Short Films
Happily Unmarried (1977) ·Teach Me to Dance (1978) ·One's a Heifer (1984) ·Change of Heart (1984) ·To Set Our House in Order (1985) ·
