Chocolat (film)



Once upon a time, a European pharmacist/explorer fell in love with and married a South American woman who was destined from birth to move as the wind blows, sharing her "ancient cacao remedies" with unhappy people. He brought her to Europe, but she didn't stay with him, departing with her daughter to move from place to place with the "clever North wind."

Her daughter Vianne (Juliette Binoche) is the focus of this 2000 film, adapted from a novel by Joanne Harris. She and her daughter Anouk (who hopes to settle down someday) live this same lifestyle, and at the beginning of the film move into a stuffy French village run by the Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina), a man who has stricter moral standards than the local priest and holds everyone to them.

Using the secret recipes of her mother's people, Vianne opens a chocolaterie during Lent, earning the Comte's disapproval. Although at first the townspeople give her a chilly reception, they slowly warm up to her as they are tempted by her fabulous concoctions. She convinces abused wife Josephine Muscat (Lena Olin) to leave her drunk husband Serge (Peter Stormare) and come work with her at the chocolaterie. She reunites young Luc Clairmont with his grandmother Armande (Judi Dench), a passionate and sarcastic woman deemed a bad influence by Luc's conservative mother, Caroline. Hidden passions left buried for years are brought to the surface with the help of the chocolate.

The Comte fears that Vianne is a threat to his control on the town and behaves accordingly, warning all the townspeople of the dangerous and evil nature of her chocolate. He spreads rumors about her atheism and liberal lifestyle, and even uses the local priest as a mouthpiece for his own ideas.

Conflict is further stirred up by the arrival of a group of gypsies, led by the impetuous and handsome Roux (Johnny Depp). Vianne, recognizing fellow outcasts, is the only shop owner in the town not to "boycott immorality" and refuse them service. She and Armande even contrive to unite them with the more liberal members of the town during Armande's 70th birthday celebration.

Although she changes everyone else's lives in the process, Vianne herself is changed by the people she meets in the town, specifically Roux - with whom she develops a romantic relationship - Josephine, and Armande. Whether or not Vianne can overcome her wanderlust is as big a question as whether severity or joy will finally win out over the town.

Primarily remembered today as having been nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture, in what commentators then and now regard as the most Egregious example of Miramax Films' notorious Oscar campaigns; this resulted in a huge backlash that has dogged the film ever since. Based on a novel by Joanne Harris which nobody reads, with all the Nightmare Fuel taken out.

Tropes:
"Boy 1: I hear she's an atheist
 * Ashes to Crashes: in a non-comedic sense.
 * Blithe Spirit - Vianne.
 * Broken Bird: Josephine, who is escaping an abusive marriage.
 * But Now I Must Go:
 * Cool Old Lady: Armande is an awesome grandmother (buying her grandson a book of dirty poetry) and friend, celebrating the finer things of life
 * Covers Always Lie: The DVD cover (above) would have you think that Roux is a major character alongside Vianne.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Roux, most of the time. Once Josephine starts talking, she turns into one fairly quickly.
 * December-December Romance: Guillaume Blerot and the widow Audel.
 * Disappeared Dad: Anouk's father is only mentioned in the context of the scandal of Vianne being an unmarried woman with a daughter.
 * Disneyfication: The anti-religious theme of the movie adaptation was softened by replacing the bitter churchman of the book with a town representative. Also, the town itself was made to look drab and ugly in the opening acts, when the very first scene in the book describes the heroine and her daughter watching a bright parade through the streets of the same town. The novel ended with
 * Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Exact words used by Armande when Vianne learns she's diabetic.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: When the Comte finds out that Serge
 * Everything's Better With Chocolate: Pretty much the whole point.
 * Mr. Fanservice: This film propelled Johnny Depp straight back into the sex-symbol territory he had fought so hard to get out of with his earlier films. He's held this title ever since, albeit in an extremely non-traditional way.
 * Faith Heel Turn:
 * Food Porn: Especially the slow-motion eating sequences.
 * Forbidden Fruit: The villagers are tempted to break their Lenten fast with the decadent chocolate
 * The Fundamentalist: The Comte de Reynaud
 * Good Is Boring: The heroine, Vianne, does not conform to the village's definition of "good".
 * Holier Than Thou: The Comte de Reynaud.
 * Imaginary Friend: Anouk's kangaroo, Pantoufle,  was a way for her to cope with moving from place to place so much. He leaves when she doesn't need him anymore.
 * Inspector Javert: Again, the Comte.
 * Leave Your Quest Test
 * Lighter and Fluffier: The writer of the original novel explicitly compares it to "milk chocolate", while the source material is darker and bitterer with more of an edge.
 * Magic Realism: Vianne's chocolate and her ability to guess people's favorites are examples of this.
 * Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Vianne is this to the whole village.
 * Miramax Films: They produced the movie. And ran the Oscar campaign.
 * Narrator All Along: We only discover at the end of the film that
 * Not Even Bothering With the Accent: Most characters manage to sound as if they at least knew what a French accent sounded like (it helped that Juliette Binoche is actually French, and so was about half the cast). Johnny Depp, however, decided his character was Irish. This is somewhat justified by his lifestyle as a gypsy.
 * Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: There's at least one whole scene where Alfred Molina completely drops his otherwise fairly convincing French accent and reverts back to his native London accent.
 * Oscar Bait - It didn't win any Oscars, but did get five nominations including Best Picture. That it got those five nominations at all, over what many viewed as superior films, became a major point of contention. There's no denying, though, that Judi Dench can do no wrong and her nomination, at least, was well-deserved.
 * Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions - Used as a way for the author to say religion is evil/encumbering on society in the original book.
 * Averted in the movie. Although the film doesn't see anything wrong with breaking holy fasts or otherwise defying your religion in pursuit of happiness, it doesn't condemn religion outright; the priest is portrayed sympathetically and points out by the end that religion should be based on love and compassion instead of discrimination and rigidity.
 * Preacher Man: Pere Henri, a lovable young preacher who not only pays close attention to his flock's spiritual needs, but the quality of their lives. He's just a bit of an Extreme Doormat when it comes to the seemingly inhumanly devout Comte de Reynaud. Upon seeing him passed out in the chocolaterie's window, he realizes that the man has as much need of guidance as the rest, and starts treating him as another supplicant. Ultimately, he's the one who drops the film's anvil: faith isn't just supposed to condemn sins, it's supposed to encourage virtues - above all, compassion and tolerance.
 * Pre-Approved Sermon: The mayor gives this treatment to the priest.
 * Pygmalion Snapback: The Comte's efforts to change Josephine's husband don't work out.
 * Roma: Roux & Co.
 * Screw Destiny: All over.
 * Sleeping Dummy: Luc pads his bed (with crumpled drawing paper) so he can sneak out to his grandmother's birthday party.
 * Straw Atheist: Vianne to the villagers.

Boy 2: What's that?

Boy 1: I don't know."


 * Given that she practices various traditional magics and is going to hold a fertility celebration on Easter, while Vianne is labeled an atheist she probably practices South American "pagan" (broad sense of the word) beliefs, though she would never label herself as such.
 * Given 'fertility celebration on Easter,' let's go with skepticism about the South American part, too. South of the Equator, the seasons are flipped--and the bit of the continent that's north of the Equator is still below the Tropic of Cancer, so the climate is, well, tropical without distinct seasons (aside from maybe dry/wet).
 * Supreme Chef: Vianne's creations are mouth-watering enough to win over an entire town of strict Catholics during Lent.
 * Trailers Always Lie: Some previews suggested that the movie was about someone selling aphrodisiacs disguised as chocolate. This happened in the film, sort of, but only once, and it didn't become a plot point.
 * Villainous Breakdown: The Comte has a gentle one at the end of the movie, where he  So it could be said that he gets his just desserts.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist - The Comte, arguably. Though he's definitely on the low end of extreme. After all, morals are by definition good things, aren't they?
 * Any good thing can become bad if taken too far.