Chocolat.

In the movie Chocolat directed by Lasse Hallström is about a young mother named Vianne Rocher and her daughter Anouk, played by Juliette Binoche and Victoire Thivisol , who arrive in a little religious village in France and open up a chocolaterie during the time of Lent. At that time the people of the village where all raised to follow the teaching of the church and to never go the wrong path. As a result of that the entire village refuses to talk Vianne and to purchase chocolate. Nevertheless as time went by more and more people became acquainted with her and stared buying chocolate. On the other hand though there was the major of the village Comte de Reynaud ,played by Alfred Molina, was is heavily against the chocolaterie for it was the time of Lent and he wanted everyone of the villagers to be good christens and follow the rules of Lent. However as time went by the entire village ignored the rules of Lent and stated to enjoy their lives more. The main concern of the story is the impact of religion on the village people and the sudden changes arriving with Vianne Rocher’s chocolaterie.

At the beginning of the story the entire village is inside the chapel to announce the start of Lent. During that time the audience finds out that the entire village is extremely religious and that they keep an eye on every one to keep in line. At the same time Vianne Rocher and her daughter Anouk arrive in the village to open up their chocolaterie; however when they started selling their chocolates no one would go into the store for they didn’t want to break the rule of Lent. Nevertheless at one point a villager comes in and gets a free sample of chocolate that is supposed to bring back passion in her boring live. When her husband ate those chocolates he suddenly had interest in his wife again and they spend a passionate night. After a while the land lady Comte de Reynaud, played by Judi Dench, comes over and tries the chocolate and start a friend ship with Vianne. However the major of the village isn’t pleased about her selling chocolates and the fact that more and more people start to eat her chocolates decided to change the prayer for the next church eating to something talking about not indulging in pleasure trying to influence the people by reminding them of the sins they are committing by eating Vianne’s chocolates. The next day the town’s people suddenly stopped coming over to her store and she finds out that the major is telling them not to buy her chocolates.

As times goes by Vianne meets Francoise 'Fuffi' Drou, played by Hélène Cardona, who is the timid wife of the abusive bar owner in the village. She tries to start a friend ship with her, but fails until Francoise knocked out her husband who tried to hit her. From that point on she started to live with Vianne and got thought in how to make chocolates. When the major found out about that he tried to make Jean-Marc Drou the bar owner, played by Antonio Gil, into a upstanding citizen to get him and his wife back together. The reason why he did that was because he wanted to preserve the union between those two and he saw it as a holy crusade that he had to do to win against the chocolateri. However after he did his best to re educate Jean into a upstanding man jean decided to ask Francoise for forgiveness and failed in his attempt and ends up breaking into the chocolatery at night and getting knocked out by her. Later on in the story a bunch of ships arrived to the river bank of the village carrying travelers. As a result of those travelers arriving at the village the major orders that the entire village where to refuse service to those people and to get them to leave for they where no good people. Nonetheless Vianne ignores those demands and treats the travelers with kindness. While every one else treats them coldly. As time went by Vianne started to get more and more acquainted with the traveler Roux, played by Johnny Depp, and invites him the birthday party of Comte de Reynaud. After the birthday party dough the major find out about what Vianne has done and sais that they have to do something about it and as a result of him saying that Jean decided to try and burn down the travelers boats. At the same time Comte de Reynaud did and was buried the next day. During her burial the major changed the pastors speech so that it sounded like that she died because of the sin she committed by eating the chocolates and not following the village social rules. After all that happened Vianne decided it was time to travel to another village and backed her bags. How ewer when she was about to leave every one she helped with her chocolate was in her kitchen and prepared chocolate dishes; when she saw that she decided to stay and to start a chocolate festival. As a result of her stubbornness the major desperately tries to find an answer in church as to what he is to do next and find a dagger ling on the floor and decides to break into the store to destroy everything. Nevertheless when he was in the middle of destroying chocolate figurines he accidentally got some on his lips and then franticly stated eating the chocolate until he fell into a sugar coma. The next morning he is discovered by the priest and Vianne and apologizes for all the things he has done to her. At that days sermon then the entire village was gathered and one could see that the people where much happier and the major saw that his old ways where wrong doings. At the end of the movie the little religious town became a little less religious and started to enjoy live more by indulging in their pleasure; resulting in that the religion last power over their lives and that they could enjoying their lives now without having to fell like their are doing something wrong.

Info Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolat_(2000_film)