By Lisa D. Horowitz

HOLLYWOOD -- Mamma mia! Before he became the Oscar-nominated director of "The Cider House Rules" and his current contender, "Chocolat," Lasse Hallström directed "Abba: The Movie." Before that, he said proudly Friday at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, "I did all the Abba videos. If you've ever seen an Abba video on TV, it was mine."

Taking on slightly weightier matters, Hallström discussed "Chocolat" between sold-out screenings of the Juliette Binoche starrer and one of his earlier films, "My Life as a Dog."

American Cinematheque programming manager Dennis Bartok quizzed the Swedish filmmaker about the Miramax romancer, which has been the subject of much Oscar talk of late.

Binoche and production designer David Gropman actually did learn to make chocolate, Hallström disclosed, but he quickly tired of the sweet and turned his attention to more pressing matters, such as convincing the inhabitants of a tiny French village to allow "Chocolat" to film in their town. (As it is everywhere, the chance to be in the movies was a powerful argument.) Hallström was grateful to find Flavigny, "a French village that hadn't been copied in a sugar-coated way by Disneyland" but had a "real nitty-gritty flavor" to it.

Also coming in for praise was Hallström's wife, "Chocolat" co-star Lena Olin. This was the first time the two have worked together on a film, he said. "It was exhilarating to add a different layer to our relationship, to see her take off and surprise me, or to see that sometimes she needed my ideas."

Hallström defined his mission and his method in film as "trying to walk the line between sentiment and sentimentality." He also expressed his desire to "go back to writing myself, as I did in Sweden. In Sweden, there are no screenwriters; as a director, you're supposed to write it yourself. So in America I've gotten lazy -- here people just send you scripts."

As a foreigner, however, he said, "Working in America is like being in a candy store. Being in Los Angeles with people who breathe and eat film for lunch, breakfast and dinner ...." His words trailed off as his face glowed with utter contentment. Then he ran out to try to catch his plane.