Once upon a time, there was a quiet little village, in the French countryside, whose people believed in tranquility.

Based on the best-selling novel by Joanne Harris, Chocolat opens like a fairy tale. And like all fairy tales, it requires willing suspension of disbelief. Can one woman and her chocolaterie reform a town “grown cold with tradition” and teach it how to live? Can chocolates really turn an abused kleptomaniac into a confident woman? Maybe. Maybe not. The best part about this 2000 Lasse Hallstrom movie is that it makes you want to believe in maybes.

The enigmatic Vianne (Juliette Binoche) and her daughter Anouk dressed in red cloaks are blown into this idyllic, conservative village by a “sly wind that blew in from the north”. Vianne opens a chocolaterie in time for the 40 days of Lent, a traditional period of abstinence. As an unwed mother who doesn’t attend mass, she soon becomes the talk of the town and attracts the disapproval of the rigid Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina) and the righteous Caroline (Carrie Anne Moss), who has disowned her liberal, surly mother (Judi Dench, who plays Vianne’s landlady), and has forbidden her son to meet his grandmother.

One knows right from the start that Vianne’s warmth and vivacity will win the town over. But it still makes for a delightful watch. Judi Dench is won over with chilli pepper in hot chocolate which reminds her of something she had as a girl, her quiet and intense grandson with dark chocolate, the unappreciated housewife with cocoa beans from Guatemala that ‘awaken passions’. Lena Olin’s Josephine is convincing both as timid doormat and fiery woman who hits her husband over the head with a cooking pan and asks: “Who says I can’t use a skillet?”

But the delicious icing on the chocolate cake is the guitar playing ponytailed Roux played by Johnny Depp. Depp’s “I’ll come ’round sometime and get that squeak out of your door” has got to be the corniest pick up line in history. But boy, does it work!

Some of the shots of chocolates being made are irresistible. But are they more irresistible than Johnny Depp? Hmmm....