Merci pour le chocolat (2000)
79%RT Audience Score: 67%
Awards & Nominations: 5 wins & 4 nominations
Boasting a masterful performance by Huppert, Merci Pour Le Chocolat is a suspenseful psychological thriller
Nightcap is a thrilling movie that will leave you on the edge of your seat. Isabelle Huppert’s performance as the queen of a Chocolate Empire is simply mesmerizing. The movie is a perfect blend of suspense, drama, and a touch of humor. You’ll find yourself rooting for Huppert’s character, even though she’s not exactly a saint. The plot is well-crafted, and the pacing is just right. Nightcap is a must-watch for anyone who loves a good thriller.
Production Company(ies)
Distributor
First Run
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Bulle, Canton de Fribourg, Switzerland
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
2000
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.66 : 1
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Runtime:1h 39m
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Language(s):French
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Aug 2, 2000 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 22, 2003
Genre(s)
Mystery & thriller
Keyword(s)
Nightcap, Isabelle Huppert, Jacques Dutronc, Mystery, Thriller, French, Claude Chabrol, Marin Karmitz, Charlotte Armstrong, Caroline Eliacheff, Box Office, Gross USA, Dolby SR, Dolby Digital, Dolby A, Surround, Psychological thriller, Suspenseful, Psychological, Bittersweet, Lausanne, Switzerland, Chocolate company, Piano, Dark mystery, Restraint, Rigor, Insinuation, Implication, Tension, Noir villain, Money, Murder, Happiness, Family, Genetics, Roman Polanski, Wedding, Concert pianist, Chocolate factory owner, Genetics, Suspenseful note
Worldwide gross: $7,972,251
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $13,827,198
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,855
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 1,507,873
US/Canada gross: $443,238
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $768,759
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,241
US/Canada opening weekend: $14,868
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $25,787
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,426
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Jacques Dutronc – André Polonski
Anna Mouglalis – Jeanne Pollet
Rodolphe Pauly – Guillaume Polonski
Brigitte Catillon – Louise Pollet
Michel Robin – Dufreigne
Director – Claude Chabrol
Producer – Marin Karmitz
Writers – Charlotte Armstrong, Claude Chabrol, Caroline Eliacheff
Director(s)
Claude Chabrol
Writer(s)
Charlotte Armstrong, Claude Chabrol, Caroline Eliacheff
Producer(s)
Marin Karmitz
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
5 wins & 4 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (55) | Top Critics (25) | Fresh (46) | Rotten (9)
The film is all insinuation and implication.
May 5, 2022
Budd Wilkins
Slant Magazine
TOP CRITIC
We can rejoice that he carries on, breathes his profession as his native air, makes pictures of varying quality but persistently makes them.
March 5, 2013
Stanley Kauffmann
The New Republic
TOP CRITIC
A tasty appetizer that leaves you wanting more.
November 29, 2002 | Rating: C+
Philip Wuntch
Dallas Morning News
TOP CRITIC
An elegant, exquisitely modulated psychological thriller.
November 8, 2002 | Rating: 3/4
Susan Stark
Detroit News
TOP CRITIC
It’s enough to watch Huppert scheming, with her small, intelligent eyes as steady as any noir villain, and to enjoy the perfectly pitched web of tension that Chabrol spins.
October 18, 2002 | Rating: 3/4
Moira MacDonald
Seattle Times
TOP CRITIC
Merci Pour le Chocolat has a restraint and rigor that we don’t see in commercial American films, the kind that a director creates when he has no interest in sentimentality or in soliciting the audience’s favor.
October 18, 2002 | Rating: 3/4
Edward Guthmann
San Francisco Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
A moody and meandering melodrama.
May 16, 2022 | Rating: 2.5/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
Nightcap is an intriguing old-fashioned thriller starring the incomparable Isabelle Huppert as an icy queen of a Chocolate Empire, who learns the hard way that neither money nor murder can buy you happiness.
November 3, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/5
Nicholas Bell
IONCINEMA.com
One of the most commanding of screen actresses, Isabelle Huppert, deploys three subtle looks: ready to kill someone; has just killed someone; slight confusion when anyone wonders about her inherent correctness.
September 16, 2020
A.S. Hamrah
The Baffler
Predictable? Maybe, but for artists like these the motivation is always more important than the act itself.
May 5, 2010
Kelly Vance
East Bay Express
July 3, 2005 | Rating: 4/5
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
The ensemble cast all sparkled.
August 13, 2003 | Rating: B-
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews…
Plot
In Nightcap, a seemingly perfect couple living in Switzerland is hiding dark secrets that are slowly revealed through a suspenseful and psychological mystery.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Fresh Kernels praises Isabelle Huppert’s “masterful performance” in Nightcap, calling it a “suspenseful psychological thriller.”
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