Chocolat

Chocolat

Chocolat, a film often described as a romantic comedy is not only that. It also portrays the struggle between the church and atheists. When an antheist woman, Vianne (Juliette Binoche), and her child, Anouk (Victoire Thivisol) traveled across the country in search of a place to build her business, she arrived boldly in red in a small dark French village just in time for lent. Her business: selling chocolate, a food that everyone gives up during that time of year. One by one, people would give into the temptation of this delicacy that graced their land. Yet, others continued to agree that she and her daughter were evil. The mayor of the town, Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina), especially disliked this new store and unsuccessfully tried to shut it down several times. When turmoil arose in the town though, Vianne was there to tone it down and prove herself a strong individual having the ability to comfort others. As more and more people gave in to this chocolate delicacy, Father Henri (Hugh O'Conor) kept preaching about how sweets at this moment were the devil and it would be sin to eat it. Before lent came to an end though, Comte de Reynaud gave into his own temptation creating one of the biggest sins ever. Chocolat, directed by Lasse Hallstrom, is a movie for all age groups. As Vianne said, "One taste is all is takes," to fall in love with chocolate. She was correct in saying that and "the world is still indulging."