Starring Juliette Binoche as Vianne Rocher, Johnny Depp as Roux, Judi Dench as Armande Voizin, and directed by Lazze Hallstrom, the movie Chocolat talks about all kinds of social prejudice mostly set by Alfred Molina (the mayor of the village) in a traditional, Catholic French village. The prejudices are that villagers have to go to church and obey what the priest says. Also, wives have to serve their husbands. And, river gypsies are dangerous and should not be trusted. In addition, one will be teased and excluded for not following the norm.
This first prejudice is that people who live in this French village have to go to the church, and follow whatever the priest/the church preaches. Those who don’t follow or don’t go to the Church are considered as evil and a radical, and also should be boycotted from the society. This is portrayed when Alfred visits Vianne’s chocolate shop, and asks Vianne whether she goes to church or not. Then, Vianne says that she and her daughter do not go to Church. Alfred sarcastically says that it is the best time for Vianne to open a chocolate shop during Lent, in which people are not supposed to eat. Since Alfred thinks that those who do not go to the church and do not believe in God are evil and radicals, he persuades the villagers not to buy anything from Vianne’s chocolate shop through manipulating the priest’s sermon. However, this prejudice is unjust because Vianne is not an evil person. She is just a woman who does not believe in God, but that should not make her an evil person.
The second prejudice is that wives have to serve their husbands, and not speak up even the husband is abusive to the wife. In the beginning of the movie, the wife who buys a chocolate which drawn her and her husband closer is seen wiping the floor proves that wives’ role is to serve their husbands. Furthermore, Josephine Muscat who is married to Serge Muscat, an owner of a café is considered crazy not only because she talks to herself and steal things, but also because she does not serve her husband well (not making him dinner). However, the villagers do not know that Serge is an alcoholic and is abusive to Josephine, which is the real reason behind Josephine purposely talking to herself acting crazily and stealing things. It is her way of coping with the stress from her violent husband. Moreover, Josephine refuses to speak up about her situation when Vienna tries to approach her and help her.
The third prejudice is that river gypsies are treacherous and should not be trusted. A band of river gypsies arrives to the river side of the French village. When the mayor realizes it, he immediately has a meeting with the villagers to discuss how to make the band of gypsies to leave because gypsies have a reputation of being uneducated and dangerous. So the villagers decide to put up posters to ban shops from doing the gypsies’ businesses. Nevertheless, as the villagers who attend Armande Voizin’s dinner party see Roux joining their table shows a great deal of discomfort and unwelcoming looks portrays the prejudice of the gypsies. In addition, when Alfred sees the band of river gypsies, Vienna, Armande, Josephine, and some of the villagers having a party on their boats say that “something has to be done”. The band of river gypsies should not be seen as a threat to the village because they are also human beings, just because they wear cheap clothing, live on boats, and travel around do not make them dangerous people. It is really because of the village’s old fashioned, repressed thinking that make them have this prejudice thinking towards the gypsies.
The fourth prejudice is that one would be teased for not following the norm. This is shown when Vienna’s daughter, Anouk Rocher, runs into the chocolate shop after getting teased by her peers. Anouk later says to her mom, “Why can’t you be like other mothers?” In addition, all the women wear similar clothing, which proves that the villagers follow the norm. In this villages’ repressed and rigid society, there is no tolerance in being different from others; one would be made fun of for one’s differences.
To sum up, all these prejudices make up the rigid and suppressive French village, which make the villagers afraid of being themselves. Fortunately, Vienna is able to use her magical chocolate and her fighting spirit to help the villagers, and turns the village in a happy, lively place, where people don’t judge each other for their differences.
http://www.traditioninaction.org/movies/001mr.htm
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