The Controversy
| In the opening narration of the film, Lansquenet is described as “a quit little village in the French countryside whose people believed in tranquility”. In a town thirsting for change from a lack of individuality and abundance in conformity and compliance, the newest citizen helps the town find its quencher in chocolate. Vianne and her illegitimate daughter first experience oppression from the town even before she opens her chocolaterie. The Catholic resident’s entrance into Lent has almost begun, and the people are astonished to learn of the shop’s opening during the fetal days of this time of deprivation. This forty day long time period represents the days Jesus spent withdrawing into the wilderness and fasting (Steinmetz 1). Not only does the store's opening provide the town with greater temptation, but also abominates their religious beliefs. The narrator explains the town’s convention in her opening lines, “If you lived in this village, you understood what was expected of you. You knew your place in the scheme of things. And if you happened to forget, someone would help remind you”. The narrator fails to mention that that someone was the town’s leader, the mayor. Leading the town’s mind is Reynaud, the mayor whose beliefs and cause are rigid in the teachings of his vague misinterpretation of the Bible. The mayor is the closest existence of an antagonist this movie has, yet he is still shown in the light of God and the likings of Vianne. The two main ingredients of this placid town’s rumpus include him and chocolate. Fighting for the abolishment of chocolate in a time of sacrifice, Reynaud goes to great extremes for the disposal of Vianne’s shop and lifestyle. Gaining the allegiance of the rest of the town, he works for the eradication of the devil’s food and its cook, but not without resistance. In Abby Carr's article "Does Saying No to Chocolate Glorify God?" she describes the attitude Catholics have toward fasting and Lenten devotion. "Yet, it seems we’ve lost something in our automatic response to Lenten devotion. We fall into old patterns too easily and the sacrifice we make is often more empty than we would like. Why? Because we don’t link what we sacrifice to what is actually separating us from God." (Carr 1). In the movie Reynaud convinces the rookie priest to preach to the town of the new presence of Satan in the community. The priest conveys Reynaud's idea that the sweet indulgence only builds a gap between the town and God but never gives the link between chocolate and its relationship with reconciliation. Reynaud may have the town behind him, but Vianne believes in her chocolate and shop just as strongly as Reynaud buckles to his Bible. Although Vianne is alone in her beliefs through her early days in the village, she befriends an abused house wife who later takes refuge in Vianne’s home, the chocolaterie. With this new friend comes new altercations whose roots are stemmed from the forever contentious sweet we’ve come to know. Her new friend leaves her husband to start a new life in assistance with chocolate creation but not without input from the mayor. Furious with her decision to leave him and ignore their vows, Josephine’s husband confides in the mayor seeking a right for the wrong that has been done unto him. Even more infuriating than Josephine’s decision to leave him is her acceptance of the new stranger to the town and their building friendship, but in a film surrounded by food, the chocolate takes the cake for his main cause of fury. Not only has he been humiliated in front of the town when his wife leaves him, but she is now associated with the town’s sweetest villain. Josephine’s character development can also be linked to religion since the time of Lent is not also a time of sacrifice and depravation but also a time of soul searching and self development (Steinmetz 1). With Catholicism and chocolate in juxtaposition with one another, the movie’s overlapping theme of religious rebellion is exposed as chocolate becomes the reason for the season. . Usually associated with giving up things for penance, Lent in the small town becomes more of a struggle between enduring through temptation and bringing down the enemy (Steinmetz 1). Not having a belief in the Catholic faith, Vianne is viewed by the town as a protocol of deception and the archetypal figure of temptation. With this force of oppression against her, Vianne still stands by her affirmation, if God made it so good, why is it so bad? |
