Chocolat

“Chocolat” is set in a small French village in the late 1950’s where a journeying woman, Vianne, and her young daughter, Anouk, open a chocolatier. Ironically, the shop is opened at the start of Lent, when the village people are not allowed to eat chocolate. There are a few regulars that do go to Vianne’s shop; however most of the town is opposed to even daring to enter the sinful world of chocolaty goodness. Comte de Reynaud is strongly against the opening of the chocolatier, preaching to his family and townspeople aversely of the shop. Throughout the film, certain characters, such as Armande and her grandson, and essentially the entire village, change dramatically due to Vianne’s magical chocolaty delights. The chocolate is representative of not only content and joy, but it is illustrative of new beginnings.

Armande is one of the few people in the village who does not comply with the ways of the church. Unlike her daughter, who is married to the Comte, Armande lives under her own rules and circumstances. Hence, she is a regular at the chocolatier, not caring if it’s Lent or not. Soon after the chocolatier opens and as she befriends Vianne, Armande’s life fundamentally changes. Before, she was kind of a grouch. She did not ever want help from anybody, and she did not seem to care about anybody. After her time at the chocolatier, she transforms into a caring and generally happy person. She gets to see her grandson, who sneaks around so that he can go to the chocolatier to see his grandmother (as well as to eat those delicious snacks). Armande begins to smile, laugh, and have a good time with her new friends. This joy is brought into the last months of her life all because of the chocolatier and the people she met there. The chocolate, therefore, represents her new outlook on life and the way she spent her last days.

Not only does Armande find herself through the chocolatier, but it is also a new beginning for the Comte and his family. Armande’s grandson finally rebels against his strict family by spending time at the chocolatier with his grandmother, breaking rules by eating the chocolate, and by being the free person he wants to be. He starts to draw pictures of Armande rather than dead people, and he too seems much happier. His mother also has a revelation due to the chocolatier. She sees how happy the people inside of it are, and finally conforms to being apart of it. She helps Josephine, a friend of Vianne’s, make and prepare the chocolate and to convince Vianne to stay in the village. Although she doesn’t eat the chocolate until the very end, she accepts Vianne and is a more open-minded person because of the chocolatier.

Josephine is another character whom chocolate has an effect on. Before Vianne came to town, Josephine was an abused, harmed wife. Her husband, Serge, was awful to her. She would do dishes and basically act as his slave in the back of the pub he owned. Vianne freed her of this abusive relationship with the chocolate shop. It gave Josephine liberation and the freedom to start a new life. This separation made Serge realize his behavior, and he finally went to the church to repent.

One of the last people to be changed by the chocolatier was Comte de Reynaud himself. He constantly fights off the urge to eat a sweet by doing something like putting a picture in front of a croissant at his desk. Finally he is drawn in by the chocolate and eats just about everything in the window of the shop. This scene, where his face is smeared with chocolates and he is asleep from the food coma he put himself in, represents how he is giving himself, as well as the village, to change. There was so much rigidity among the townspeople. However, with the chocolatier being accepted, the people are more joyous and free.

Overall, the chocolate liberates the village. The sweet is symbolic of a fresh start for people, giving them the chance to be independent. Even the strictest of them all give into their guilty pleasure. The leisure of doing something so simple as to eating chocolate truly allows the townspeople, especially the Comte and his family, Josephine, and Armande enjoy life. They get a second chance to change the way they approach things, especially the stiffness of the community. Even a somber old couple rejuvenates and spices up their marriage due to a special chocolate. Without it, their marriage could have been ruined. Vianne and her chocolate profoundly give opportunity to the people of the village.