Blood and Chocolate (film)

Infobox Film
name = Blood & Chocolate


caption =
director = Katja von Garnier
producer = Wolfgang Esenwein
Hawk Koch
Gary Lucchesi
Tom Rosenberg
Richard S. Wright
writer = Ehren Kruger
Christopher Landon
(screenplay)
Annette Curtis Klause
(book)
narrator =
starring = Agnes Bruckner
Hugh Dancy
Olivier Martinez
Bryan Dick
music = Reinhold Heil
Johnny Klimek
cinematography = Brendan Galvin
editing = David Gamble
Emma E. Hickox
distributor = MGM
released = January 26, 2007
runtime =
country = USA
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.mydarkestsecrets.com/
amg_id = 1:351951
imdb_id = 0397044

"Blood & Chocolate" is a 2007 film directed by Katja von Garnier, produced by Lakeshore Entertainment and distributed by MGM. It is very loosely based on the eponymous young-adult novel of the same name by Annette Curtis Klause, which was adapted into a screenplay by Ehren Kruger. The movie was released on DVD on June 13, 2007 in the USA.

ynopsis

Vivian is a member of a supernatural race called loup-garoux, werewolves, who hide their identity in the general human populace. After her family is killed by hunters in America, she moves back to Bucharest, where she meets a man named Aiden who makes her question the traditions of her heritage and the value of blood ties...

Full Plot

Vivian's lycanthropic family was killed in America 10 years ago when she was 9 years old, after which she moved back to Bucharest, Romania to live with her aunt Astrid. Astrid is a former mate of the pack's leader, Gabriel, and together they have a son named Rafe. According to pack law, the leader chooses a new mate every seven years. The choosing is a few months away and Gabriel wants Vivian as his mate, despite her reluctance. This is because of a prophecy which states that a female loup-garoux from the line of leaders will someday lead all loup-garoux into the age of hope. Gabriel thinks this loup-garoux will be Vivian, and for this reason he has chosen her for his "bride".

While sitting one night in an abandoned church that celebrated the loup-garoux (having broken into it) she meets a human, Aiden, who is an artist (who also broke into the church for inspiration for his graphic novel series) researching the legend of the loup-garoux/or garouxone. Aiden is instantly smitten and pursues her for several days before she finally agrees to start seeing him. They meet in secret and fall in love. They are soon discovered by Vivian's cousin Rafe and his four friends, who grew up with Vivian; throughout the movie Rafe and his friends are referred to as the Five. After Rafe tells Gabriel about the relationship, he orders Rafe to do whatever is necessary to get Aiden out of the city- even if it means death threats and bribing.

Rafe sends Aiden a note, pretending it is from Vivian and asking him to meet her in a chapel outside the city. After Rafe threatens him, Aiden throws him into the table where he cuts himself. Rafe's spilling of blood forces his eyes to turn gold and reveal his loup-garoux side. He attempts to kill Aiden, however silver is fatal to the loup-garoux and can poison them when mixes with their blood (fire is the only other way to kill them). Aiden uses his silver medallion necklace to kill Rafe, in self-defense. (Aiden was trained by his "addicted, Army Ranger father" in self-defense, which obviously comes in handy.)

Gabriel and Astrid are devastated at the death of their son, and Aiden is caught by other loup-garoux at the train station (presumably to leave the country). Every month at full moon, the pack leads a hunt in the forest. The human prey is chosen because they are a danger to the pack or because they've offended one of its members (the first victim witnessed is a drug dealer). If the human manages to cross the river in the forest, they're allowed to live, but no one has ever managed to reach the river. Aiden is chosen to be that moon cycle's prey because he killed Rafe and he runs for his life. He cleverly spreads his blood around on the trees to confuse the hunting loup-garoux and buy some time (at the beginning of the "hunt" the prey is cut so that there is a blood scent to track). Fortunately, he'd stolen a silver knife from a restaurant earlier, and when two wolves corner him he is able to defend himself. He reaches the river and with great difficulty crosses it, however Gabriel is furious and breaks his own law, he follows Aiden and attacks. Vivian jumps in and she and Gabriel fight in their wolf forms; Vivian wins by pushing him into the river. Aiden attacks her, not recognizing her in her wolf skin, and slashes her arm with the knife. When she changes back into her human self she reveals who she is, he is stricken with guilt and is eager to help her.

They flee to a building where films were once processed, because it is riddled with silver dust the loup-garoux would not dare enter to find them. After a few tender moments Astrid appears. Realizing where Vivian had gone, she confronts them with a gun. Vivian pleads for Aiden's life, reminding Astrid of how important it is to be with someone you love, and Astrid (who is in love with Gabriel even though he no longer wants her for his mate) lets them free. They retrieve an antidote for Vivian by threatening a human pharmacist who is owned by Gabriel, but the man manages to alert the pack to their presence. Vivian fights to protect Aiden but she is captured.

In the wolves' territory (a bar that is frequented by the pack), Gabriel decides that he and Vivian shall hunt (each other), but Aiden - watching from a skylight above) shoots him. A few of Gabriel's hitmen shoot him down into the building and a massive fight begins. During the shooting, several kegs and bottles of alcohol (Absinthe) shatter and their contents spill onto the floor and Aiden sets the building on fire. Gabriel attacks Aiden but before he can strike a possibly fatal blow, Vivian aims a gun at Gabriel. He insults her by telling her how she is becoming that hunter on that snowy night and kill on of her family. Gabriel shifts into his wolf form and faces Vivian. Aiden pleads with Vivian to shoot Gabriel, to which she replies many times, "I can't." When Gabriel goes to attack Aiden, Vivian shoots him. Vivian feels guilty for having killed Gabriel, as a tear rolls down her cheek and she strokes Gabriel's fur. She helps the other loup-garou who had been chasing her, escape from the fire and she and Aiden run away together.

The last scene is of them sitting in Gabriel's car and driving out of the city, on their way to Paris. As they drive, several people in the streets show their throats (as submissive wolves do) to the car because they assume Gabriel is the driver. As the car passes under the Arcul de Triumf (The Triumphal Arch built in 1935 and modeled after the Arc de Triomphe/Arch of Triumph in Paris), the movie ends.

Production

Since 1997, five directors were in talks to film "Blood and Chocolate", namely Larry Williams and his wife Leslie Libman, Po-Chih Leong, Sanji Senaka and Rupert Wainwright, before Katja von Garnier finally signed in January 2005 to direct the film. The book was originally adapted into a script by Christopher Landon whose father Michael Landon had a leading role in the film "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" (1957). The filming took place in Bucharest, Romania, among others because director von Garnier wanted to work with "real" wolves which really live in Romania's woods, instead of using computer-generated wolf creatures. [cite web | url = http://katja-von-garnier.de/deutsch/film_blood_and_chocolate.htm
title = "Blood and Chocolate" at director's site de icon ]

Author Annette Curtis Klause was not kept up to date by the producers of the film. She had to find the information about the filming on the Web. [cite web | url = http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2006/01/author-update-annette-curtis-klause.html
title = Interview with author Annette Curtis Klause ]

Release

The movie was a box office bomb, taking in only $2.1 million in the United States on its opening weekend and dropping out of the top 20 grossing movies in only its second week of release. The film holds a dismal 9% approval rating on [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blood_and_chocolate/ Rotten Tomatoes] , with only 6 out of 68 critics rating it as "fresh". The webpage cites the film's "cheap CG effects and laughable dialogue" which makes "Blood and Chocolate" "worse than the usual werewolf flick."

Differences between book and film

* The general message of the book is that werewolves and humans cannot have stable romantic relationships because humans cannot love all of a who/what a werewolf is. In the book Vivian chose her kind over human kind. The movie states the exact opposite, as Vivian and Aiden are still together at the end.
* In the book, all characters are American and the story takes place in Maryland. In the film it takes place in Romania and some characters have English, French or Romanian accents. Vivian and Aiden are the only characters with American accents.
* In the novel, none of the wolves' eyes change to gold when they smell the scent of blood.
* Vivian's mother Esme is alive and her father dies in the novel; in the film both her parents are dead. In the book Vivian is an only child, but in the film it is shown that she had siblings, who were killed along with her parents.
* In the film Vivian blames herself for her family's death; she explains to Aiden that her paw prints were found by the enemy, leading them to her family. In the book, only her father dies and it was caused, albeit indirectly, by the Five.
* Aiden, Vivian, and the Five are high school students in the book. Vivian is in her teens and Aiden is a junior in High School. The Five are presumably in their late teens as well. In the film, Aiden appears to be older than Vivian, who is nineteen (as revealed by Astrid in the film's beginning). Beyond Vivian's, no specific references are made to any characters' ages or to school.
* In the book, Astrid and Gabriel were never mates. Rafe is neither their son, but the son of Lucien Dafoe, nor is he Vivian's cousin. Also, Astrid is not Vivian's aunt and is actually the main antagonist in the book. However, Astrid in the film takes on the role of Esme in the book, and envies Gabriel's mate in the film like Esme does Astrid in the book. Gabriel's mate also fits Astrid's physical description in the book.
* Rafe – and the rest of the Five – are attracted to Vivian in the novel; She and Rafe had dated at some point before the story takes place. This is not mentioned in the film.
* Rafe and Astrid are lovers in the novel; in the film they are mother and son. In the book, her son is Ulf of The Five.
* In the film there is no Ordeal between the male loup-garoux, and no Ordeal between the female loup-garoux. Gabriel is the leader from the start, instead of participating in the Ordeal as he did in the book. The rule is based on bloodline rather than triumph.
* Aiden is alone in Romania in the film; in the book he has friends and family around him other than Vivian.
* In the beginning of the novel, a character named Axel - a friend of the Five and Vivian's former primary romantic interest – was mentioned several times. Axel does not appear in the film.
* In the novel, it was Axel, and not Rafe, who murdered a girl because she rejected him.
* Vivian has an Uncle Rudy, Esme's brother, in the novel. In the film, she has no uncle.
* Vivian is an artist in the novel; in the film Aiden is the artist.
* Vivian works at a chocolate and sweets shop in the film; she has no such job in the book.
* In the novel, when the pack leader takes a mate, she is his mate for life unless another female loup-garoux challenges and defeats her, or the pack leader approves of her new mate. In the film, the leader takes a mate every seven years.
* Gabriel is generally a protagonist and does not permit the pack to kill humans for pleasure; in the film he is the antagonist and encourages the killing of humans.
* Vivian is presumably a gray and brown loup-garoux in the book. However, in the film a white wolf was chosen to depict Vivian in her wolf-form.
* In the book, there is no prophecy.
* The book mentions an elderly female loup-garoux, Aunt Persia, who cures every ailment the loup-garoux may have including Vivian's silver poisoning, however in the book Aunt Persia does not cure Vivian's silver poisoning. In the film, she is not mentioned and an old pharmacist gives Vivian an antidote.
* In the book, Aiden gives Vivian a silver pentagram, which he later melts down into the bullets he shot Vivian and Rafe with. In the film, Aiden owns a pentagram necklace but does not give it to Vivian. He uses it to kill Rafe.
* In the book, silver can only kill if it enters the blood stream. In the film, it only needs to touch a loup-garoux
* In the book, Vivian's parents had been the leaders of the pack before Gabriel, but the film never mentions this.
* When Vivian reveals her secret to Aiden in the book, he is terrified and wants nothing to do with her. In the film, Aiden is initially terrified and runs away from Vivian, but falls back in love with her after she saves him from the other loup-garoux.
* In the novel, the pack members shape-shift into their alternative forms. In the film, the transformation is much more spiritual, depicting Vivian and the others as humans who almost seem to ascend into a higher (or at least different) state of spiritual being, glowing mystically as they transform into that of the loup-garoux.
* In the book, Vivian enjoys changing into her wolf form, and does so frequently. Though she seemingly loses control throughout the novel. In the film, she struggles to prevent the change and only does so when necessary to save Aiden from the hunt.
* Though Aiden kills Rafe in both the book and the film, in the book Aiden shoots Rafe with a silver bullet. In the film, he kills him with his silver amulet.
* Gabriel is twenty-four in the novel; in the film he is of indeterminate age, though clearly old enough to have fathered Rafe with Astrid.
* At the end of the book Gabriel tells Vivian that he had once loved a human girl and how he could relate to Vivian's feelings for Aiden. He does not do this is in the film, also, in the book Gabriel loves Vivian, but in the film he wants to marry her to fulfill the prophecy.
* In the film, Vivian shows a great amount of resistance to "Tradition" and Gabriel's laws, whereas in the book, Gabriel explains that he loves her because she cares so much for her pack.
* In the book Aiden and Vivian break up at the end, and Vivian falls in love with Gabriel and agrees to become his mate. In the film, however, Gabriel is killed by Vivian and she leaves the pack with Aiden.
* In the film, Aiden's last name is Galvin, while in the book, it is Teague.
* In the film the pack participate in special hunts, which take place in a forest. The prey is human, usually one who has done wrong to the pack, and is told that he must run through the forest in order to win his life back - if he passes the river in the forest then he can survive, if he is caught by a loup-garoux then he is killed by it. In the novel, however, there is no such practice since Gabriel does not advocate the killing of humans.

Footnotes

External links

*
* [http://www.mgm.com/bloodandchocolate/ Official site] by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
* [http://blood-and-chocolate.katja-von-garnier.com "Blood and Chocolate"] at katja-von-garnier.com
* [http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/newsletters/inCamera/july2006/chocolate.jhtml Report about the filming] at kodak.com (dead link)
* [http://community.livejournal.com/mydarkestsecret/profile "Blood and Chocolate" official LiveJournal community]
*
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitoline_Wolf_Statue,_Cluj-Napoca] The Capitoline Wolf Statue seen in the film

Pictures

* [http://blood-and-chocolate.katja-von-garnier.com/pictures.htm Film stills, wallpapers] and [http://blood-and-chocolate.katja-von-garnier.com/poster.htm posters]
* [http://fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=3186 First screenshots from the film]
* [http://www.moviecars.at/news/10_09_05/Thumbnails.html Pictures from the filming]
* [http://www.alldeco.ro/bc.html Set Decoration]