Director Lasse Hallstrom's recipe for Chocolat is bittersweet, a tale of human hope and frailty imbued with no small amount of symbolism. It's a story that requires a deft, sensitive musical touch, and Hallstrom has wisely turned again to English composer Rachel Portman for the honors. As she did on The Legend of Bagger Vance and her previous, Academy Award-nominated collaboration with Hallstrom, The Cider House Rules, Portman walks the fine line between preciousness and delicacy with grace and dignity. The gypsy flavor of Django Reinhardt's and Stephane Grappelli's "Minor Swing" sets the story's place and time, while Portman's gentle pastoral melodies outline its emotional core, with a few gratifying excursions into more Euro-ethnic music to keep it well-seasoned. The result is another quiet, powerful Portman masterpiece. --Jerry McCulley