Canadian director Anne Wheeler’s “Better than Chocolate” is a wonderful movie about gay women, but it is also moderately about larger issues, such as liberation and acceptance.
Maggie, a sweetly innocent clerk at a lesbian bookstore appropriately called 10% Books, meets intimidating butch Kim one afternoon. After Kim’s van is towed away, they move in together faster than you can say “What the hell are you thinking?” Unfortunately, Maggie’s mother Lila and her teenage brother move in that same night, thanks to Lila’s nasty divorce. What really complicates matters is that Maggie hasn’t come out to her mother yet, and even when she tries, Lila tries to avoid the subject, like she knows what’s coming and doesn’t want to hear it. (Haven’t we all been there?)
Interwoven with this is a dramatic subplot about Judy, a male to female transsexual who’s in love with the bookstore’s owner Frances, who is always freaking out because custom’s officers are holding a list of books she has ordered, claiming the books are obscene and cannot be sold.
The end result is a sweet romantic comedy with a hint of drama, which realistically portraits the problems faced by the lesbian community and how not everyone is willing to accept them. A powerful scene has Judy harassed by another woman for using the ladies room, because she is a man. The woman attacks Judy and begins beating her with a purse, splashing her drink in Judy’s face. This was a tragic and powerful moment that really affected me, making me realize how unaccepting people can be of anything that is slightly different. It is moments like this that really make the movie so much better than other lesbian films.
The title “Better than Chocolate” does not refer to sex, but to love, which Lila is convinced she will never find again now that her husband has admitted he’s been screwing his partner’s wife for more than a year. Since love is doubtful and sex seems out of the question, Lila has turned to chocolate instead.
This is a great movie that really makes you think. It’s wonderfully witty, surprisingly charming, and incredibly funny. It’s the feel-good-movie of 03 that just so happens to be about lesbians. This is highly recommended…is it better than chocolate? Who knows. But it’s one heck of a great movie!!!