When he first comes across Chocolat, Foottit is a once-famous clown whose career is on the slide. But much else rings true and Zem's spirited evocation of Paris bohemia, fin-de-siecle style, has turned the film into a box-office hit in France, as well as exciting debate about race relations. Nor did Foottit first discover him in a country circus, wearing a leopard skin and frightening the customers with his pretence at being a cannibal. As far as I can tell, Chocolat did not go on stage in Shakespeare's Macbeth, although he did appear in a parody of Verdi's opera. Then he stops clowning to play Othello and nothing is the same again.ĭirector Roschdy Zem, who's of Moroccan heritage, and screenwriter Cyril Gely have added a few fictional flourishes here. Weary of catering to his audience's delight in seeing him demeaned by the bossy Foottit, he starts turning the tables. Now he's back on film, played by Omar Sy ( The Intouchables) as an ebullient charmer who is happy about being paid big money for being the butt of the joke until one day he isn't. Then, almost a century later, he was resurrected by author and dramatist Gerard Noiriel, who wrote a play about him, followed by a biography. Both performers eventually took to the bottle and Chocolat, alias Rafael Padilla, died in poverty in 1917. Omar Sy (left) and James Thierree star in Monsieur Chocolat, a box-office hit in France that has stirred debate about race relations.
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