Reflection on Chocolat film

Chocolat is a romance film that tells the story of a mysterious woman who moves with her young daughter into a rural town in France, that was dominated by the local Catholic Church. Vianne Rocher and her six year old daughter move to a conservative town in rural France and opens up a chocolate shop across the street from the Catholic Church immediately after their arrival. Vianne Rocher and her daughter were met with resistance from conservative Catholics. The residents of town were skeptical about purchasing chocolate, because they view opens of chocolate shop as temptation to their religion faith. Gradually, Vianne Rocher uses her expert touch to create delicious chocolate/candy that is resistance by each customer. She was able to convince some customer with her exuberance and delicious chocolates except Comte De Reynaud, the mayor of town. Comte De Reynaud, who act as self-appointed moral authority for the entire town was determined to shut down Vianne Rocher’s chocolate shop. The mayor sees Vianne as an immoral provocateur and he is determined to do whatever possible under his authority to discourage Vianne from the town. Despite the hardship Vianne Rocher encountered, she was able to won over the villagers with help from her friends. Eventually, the moral message emerges at the end of film (Chocolat); a call for true freedom that comes by accepting others as they are, and allowing them the freedom to be all that God has created them to be. As result, Vianne and her daughter permanently settle in the town and everyone was happy.


The film (Chocolat) reveals number of social groups/institutions that aim to achieve different objectives. I selected three social groups/institutions that were portrays in the film (Chocolat). The three social groups/institutions are as follow, Vianne Rocher with her daughter Anouk, Catholic Church, and mayor.

Vianne Rocher is a young mother, who moves to a rural town in France and opens up a chocolate shop with her six year old daughter (Anouk). Vianne is not a Christian nor she believes in any religion, but she has the strength and ability to give unconditional love and acceptance to others regardless of culture or religion affiliation. On the other hand, Vianne Rocher wasn’t able to break free from her own troubled and ancient past. She kept the ashes of her deceased mother with whom she confers, and who seems to hold some control over her even from the pot. Vianne Rocher and her daughter Anouk never settle down; they moved with the north wind from place to place. I hear how Vianne and Anouk have traveled from city to city also bound by the same north wind. When the north wind returns and signals Vianne to go on board on another journey, she submissively packs to go. Surprisingly, Vianne’s daughter Anouk has had enough of the missionary life and she forced her mother to break free from her troubled and ancient past. They reclaim themselves from a lifetime of wandering and they are free to choose their own destiny. Finally, Anouk and her mother settle permanently in rural town of France.

Catholic Church is one of the institution that was portrays in the film (Chocolat). Most of the community's activities were dominated by the local Catholic Church, the only religion in the rural town. The Christians in the town were guided by Catholic/Christianity doctrine regardless of individual’s own faith. For example, some residents who lost their husbands/wives were not allows to marriage again. It is unfortunate that some men/women have to spend the rest of their life as single. In other scenarios, anyone who doesn’t attend church or follow Catholic’s way of live was perceived as immoral provocateur. This kind of classification force the villagers to behave according to Christians law; if one fail to obey, then s/he must confess to the priest in order to forgive his/her sins. The ideology of obeying Catholic traditions was rooted in the town especially in the office of mayor.

The second institution in the film (Chocolat) that I selected was the mayor. The mayor of the town had played a critical rule in keeping villagers active in Catholic Church. As a matter of fact, the mayor Comte De Reynaud, implements moral authority for the entire town. He directed both Catholic Church and local villagers to do what he conceives as moral bases on his faith. Mayor Comte De Reynaud was the one who masterminded what to be read during church services. In addition, he is the one who classify individual as immoral provocateur such as in the case of Vianne Rocher and chocolate shop. On the other cases such as Josephine and her husband, Mayor Comte De Reynaud drags Josephine’s husband to church and asked him to confess to priest for his wrong doing. In my view, it is wrongful to force someone to confess to his/her sin involuntary. The mayor was determined to preserve the heritages and traditions Catholic Church and town as well.

According to Migliore, theology is a faith seeking understanding to provide a clear and comprehensive description of the Christians, translating Christian faith into terms that are intelligible to the wider culture, thinking about important issues from the perspective of Christian faith, and reflection of the praxis of Christian faith within an oppressed community. Faith asking questions has been deployed as task to seek understanding. Theology is a continuing search for the fullness of the truth of God made known in Jesus Christ.

The character in the film that I thought to be considered a theologian is the priest of Catholic Church. In fact, the priest of Catholic Church was poor theologian because his authority was manipulated by Mayor Comte De Reynaud, who acts as moral authority for the entire town. Comte De Reynaud directs all the affairs of Catholic Church in town. He directs the priest on what to say during church service and how to behave as priest. As result, the priest was not able to preach independently. I think the Catholic priest would have been a good theologian if he had an opportunity to employ his knowledge.

In the firm (Chocolat), the priest question Mayor for bringing in Josephine’s husband involuntarily to confess his sin. According to priest, confession should be conduct voluntarily at the individual’s interest without suppression. Hence, the Mayor insisted that Josephine’s husband come to confess voluntarily. I would conclude that Mayor is not theologian because he is resistance to anything that challenges Catholic traditions or norms. On the other hand, the priest was more tolerance but he was unable to express it. In other scenario when the priest practices his hip hop dancing skill; he challenges Catholic traditions because his philosophy was aim to translated Christian faith into terms that are intelligible to the wider culture. However, the Mayor views priest his action as immoral because his (the Mayor) philosophy thoughts were rooted in the old traditions. Eventually, the priest issues strong message at the end of film (Chocolat) calling for the miracle of Lord’s divine transformation. He state that, “true freedom comes in accepting others as they are, and allowing them the freedom to be all that God has created them to be. It is not who we exclude that counts, but who we include that makes all the difference”. Basically, the priest was asking the Christ followers to be more tolerance toward one another regardless of who they are. In fact, the priest had demonstrated the critical reflection on praxis within an oppressed community. It is essential to acknowledge freedom and justice rather than serving as a believer that justifies a given social order.