Jesus at the Movies: Chocolat

Chocolat is a movie directed by Lasse Hallström in 2001. It follows the lives and faiths of various towns’ people in a small village in France. From the extremely religious and conservative, Comte de Reynaud to the free-spirited Vianne Rocher, each character plays a vital role in showing the importance of friendship, love and happiness in a town that is consumed by rules and religious obligations.
The Comte de Reynaud, or the Mayor of the town, was of a long line of strict and conservative descendants in the town and because of this the Comte felt he had a reputation, a legacy to uphold. So when Vianne and her daughter came to town and started a chocolate shop during Lent the Comte felt the only thing to do was to find a way to shut it down so that it wouldn’t tempt the towns’ people. An interesting thing about the Comte was that even though he was the mayor and a follower of Christ the movie portrayed him as the “bad” guy because he had such strong convictions ad was very stubborn. It was not that he was a bad guy; he was just so set in his ways and views that he refused to look beyond the church and to something new and exciting. Like Comte, everyone in town attended church every Sunday and regularly prayed and went to confession before the arrival of Vianne. The Comte was a devout Catholic and believed full-heartedly in the influence of God. However, he had problems of his own like the fact that his wife had left him and moved to Italy. He refused to let anyone know what had actually happened and became so consumed by his disapproval of the chocolate shop and what it represents that he lost track of some of the core values of Christianity like do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
The Comte views God as almighty and the savior of all. He is the quintessential Christian in that he has always followed the Bible and he has never waivered from his faith. However, because he has such strong convictions and he so set in his ways he seemed to forget what it was like to be happy and enjoy life as Vianne has taught and the rest of the people in the village are learning to do. He allowed his attitude and religious convictions to control his life and consequently his behavior became irrational and childish, which can be seen by him going into the chocolaterie and destroying the window display and eventually eating all of the chocolate. From this we, as the audience, saw the Comte give in and finally realize that chocolate is simply chocolate not some evil thing.
Being the mayor the Comte was a very influential person in the town and for most of the movie people would not defy his rule and go against his belief by entering the chocolaterie. This shows that his attitude and behavior highly influenced the rest of the villagers and by a majority of the people following the Comte’s lead many people did not get a chance to learn from Vianne and listen to what she had to say until the day of the chocolate fair when the Comte finally came around. As we have learned the opinions and attitude that people have can greatly affect the opinions of other people just as most of the towns’ people followed the Comte de Reynaud’s orders. Another character that was completely opposite of the Comte was Vianne.
Vianne Rocher and her daughter were drifters going from town to town to share their chocolate and to show the people they came in contact with happiness and to lend a helping hand to whom ever was in need. Whether it was an old man with a crush, a woman looking to be reunited with her family or a battered woman looking for a home and more importantly a friend. Vianne did not attend church and neither did she uphold the traditions of the church like participating in Lent. From the way the movie is written we as the audience can conclude that Vianne played by her own rules and therefore never attended church, however, she was respectful of those who did follow God. She merely wanted to open their eyes to the world of possibilities and to show them that church and God are not the only things that should hold meaning in people’s lives.
Vianne did not attend church and because of this she did not take part in Lent and therefore she spent most of her time cooking chocolate, which is a major temptation for many people. I do not believe that it was her intention to persuade people to break Lent but I do think she wanted to encourage people to do as they please and if that meant eating chocolate then Vianne was more then happy to oblige. The interesting thing about her was that her character, unlike the Comte’s was portrayed not as the enemy because she went against the towns’ people but rather the friend who opened the eyes of many people in the town. Vianne also remained positive and happy even when the Comte de Reynaud was trying to shut her business down. Because of her positive and uplifting attitude many people wanted to be her friend and many people were persuaded to have chocolate, enjoy life and not be so worried about what God would say or what was expected of them. A specific example of this can be seen when Caroline Clairmont, the secretary for Comte de Reynaud and also a very strict follower of Christianity gave in and began helping Vianne for the Chocolate fair. By maintaining a positive and upbeat attitude people eventually came to love Vianne and her daughter for their unique way of celebrating life and in the end the town was better off for having Vianne and the chocololaterie and the changes it brought to such a strict and conservative town.
Another minor but influential character in the movie was Pere Henri. He was the preacher at the church in the village and the Comte de Reynaud was constantly overshadowing him, telling him what to say and what not to say in his sermons and basically undermining his ability to preach. However, in the end Pere has the opportunity to speak his mind and he does not have to deal with the Comte’s suggestions and revisions because the Comte, at that point, had given in by eating chocolate and changing his own ways of thinking. In that last sermon Pere discuss’ how goodness is not measured on what we don’t do, who we exclude or what we resist but rather goodness is measured by what we embrace, who we include and what we create. In saying all of this Pere is saying by including Vianne and Anouk and embracing happiness we are not going against God we are merely embracing the goodness in ourselves and others.