''Better Than Chocolate'' is a 1999

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film shot in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and directed by Anne Wheeler.

Plot

Maggie ( Karyn Dwyer) has moved out on her own and has started a relationship with Kim (

Christina Cox Christina Cox (born July 31, 1971) is a Canadian film and television actress and stuntwoman. Early life Christina Cox was born in a town on the outskirts of Toronto, the youngest of three daughters. She is Canadian of Caribbean (Jamaican) descen ...

). Maggie's mother Lila (

Wendy Crewson Wendy Jane Crewson (born May 9, 1956) is a Canadian actress and producer. She began her career appearing on Canadian television, before her breakthrough role in 1991 dramatic film ''The Doctor (1991 film), The Doctor''. Crewson has appeared in ma ...

) and brother are forced to move into her loft sublet with her, but unaware that she is a lesbian. Maggie's freedom is compromised, and she believes she must keep her blossoming affair a secret. The clandestine romance introduces Maggie's family to a host of new experiences, many of which are "better than chocolate". The story features Judy, a friend of Maggie's who is a

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

woman. Judy develops a friendship with Maggie's Mom and helps her to repair her relationship with her daughter. Judy's love interest is Frances, owner of the book shop in which Maggie works and purveyor of

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

literature.

Cast

* Karyn Dwyer as Maggie *

as Kim * Peter Outerbridge as Judy * Ann-Marie MacDonald as Frances *

as Lila, Maggie's Mom * Kevin Mundy as Paul, Maggie's Brother * Marya Delver as Carla * Tony Nappo as Tony *

Jay Brazeau Jay Brazeau is a Canadian actor, best known for his role as Sam Fisher in ''Cold Squad'', as Harlan in ''Stargate SG-1'' (1997–2007), and for voicing Uncle Quigley in '' Sabrina: The Animated Series''. He is also known for his role as Bobby in ...

as Mr. Marcus * Beatrice Zeilinger as Bernice *

Veena Sood Veena Sood (born 21 November), is a Canadian actress. Sood is best known for dramatic and comedic roles in a career spanning more than 3 decades. Early life and education She was born on 21 November in Nairobi, Kenya. Her father was a doctor a ...

as Religious Zealot

Background

The film was created with a budget of $1.6 million. It was co-produced by Peggy Thompson and Sharon McGowan. The film takes its name from a lyric in

Sarah McLachlan Sarah Ann McLachlan OC OBC (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. As of 2015, she had sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is '' Surfacing'', for which she won two Grammy Awards (ou ...

'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 protester. The plot line about the bookstore is a fairly direct reference to Vancouver's

Little Sister's Book and Art Emporium Little Sister's Book and Art Emporium, also known as Little Sister's Bookstore, but usually called "Little Sister's", is an independent bookstore in the Davie Village/ West End neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The bookstore wa ...

and its travails with

Canada Customs The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA; french: Agence des services frontaliers du Canada, ''ASFC'') is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border control (i.e. protection and surveillance), immigration enforcement, and cus ...

. The bookstore is thanked in the credits. 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 Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority as it was deemed "offensive to public morality, decency and ordinary good taste." An advertisement in the '' San Diego Union-Tribune'' was also removed, due to the word "lesbian" being present on the movie poster.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film was released as a CD in 1999 on Lakeshore Records. ;Track listing: # Sexy - West End Girls # When I Think Of You - Melanie Dekker # 32 Flavors - Ani DiFranco # Julie Christie - Lorraine Bowen # Perfect Fingers - Tami Greer # Let's Have Sex - Studio Kings 2.0/Trippy # In My Mind - Trippy # My Place - Edgar # I'm Not A Fucking Drag Queen - Peter Outerbridge # Stand Up - Ferron # Night - Feisty # Long Gone - Kelly Brock # Pure (You're Touching Me) - West End Girls

Reception

Stephen Holden of the ''New York Times'' gave the film a positive review and wrote: "the movie gushes with so much romantic optimism and good humor that it has the effervescence of an engaging musical comedy".

Awards

The film screened at film festivals around the world and was ranked 31st on ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

''s Top 200 independent films list of 1999."The Sixth Sense to Fight Club (August - October 1999)"
''Pop Matters'', 24 March 2009

References

External links

Better Than Chocolate
at th
Canadian Film Reference Library
* * {{Anne Wheeler 1999 films 1990s English-language films Canadian romantic comedy films English-language Canadian films Lesbian-related films Canadian LGBT-related films Films about trans women 1999 romantic comedy films Films set in Vancouver Films shot in Vancouver Films directed by Anne Wheeler 1999 LGBT-related films LGBT-related romantic comedy films Trimark Pictures films 1990s Canadian films