Chocolat

Reynaud tells his père how disturbing he finds Vianne. The shop’s perfumed décor reminded him of a boudoir, and he tried not to look, but he describes both the confectionary and Vianne’s appearance in detail. He sees her as an enemy spreading discord. He remembers how he and his père worked hard to expel an itinerant houseboat community, preaching to convince the villagers to ostracize them and eventually convincing Narcisse, who wanted to employ them seasonally on his farm. He describes his prejudiced view of them and his fear that Vianne’s influence may allow their return. He reveals that he pressured the schoolteacher Joline into forbidding her son, Jeannot, from playing with Anouk. He laments the weakness of the villagers compared to his own obsessive fasting.

After Vianne’s regulars (Georges, Narcisse, and Guillaume) have left, Josephine enters the shop. She pays for the packet she stole, claiming that it was an accident. Vianne gives her hot chocolate. Josephine bursts out in distress that if someone steps outside the norm in the village, they are ostracized. Reynaud and Josephine’s husband, Muscat, watch Josephine leave the shop. Anouk goes to play with her friends in Les Marauds, where no adults go, so that they cannot forbid her from playing with their children. Muscat comes in and is sleazy toward Vianne, who senses his violent tendencies. He asks why his wife was spending his money; Vianne says that she invited Josephine in as a friend. She gives him a packet for Josephine, knowing that he will take it himself, as chocolate he’s taken from someone else is his favorite type of chocolate.

Vianne and Anouk joke affectionately before she rushes out with Pantoufle, wrenching Vianne’s heart. Guillaume visits. He has bought special sausage for Charly but worries that maybe dogs should also fast for Lent. He leaves the shop carrying Charly. Armande enters, and Vianne gives her hot chocolate, which she revels in as a rich treat forbidden by Caro. She mourns her relationship with her grandson, Luc, whom Caro won’t let her see. She tells Vianne that Reynaud is the Black Man by whom Vianne feels haunted.

Later, Vianne reads her mother’s tarot cards. She draws Death, remembering that this card also signifies change. She thinks that the cards are a manifestation of a person’s concerns. She says farewell to her mother, resolving not to read the cards again and to stay here to face what the wind brings.

Reynaud confesses to his père that he has sinned: He feels empty praying in church, despite its ornate saintly figures. He dreamed of great sacrifice but feels sucked into the pettiness of his parishioners. He fasts more stringently and decides to torment himself by staring at the rotisserie chickens. He plans to complain about Vianne’s shop to the bishop and the planning office. He describes her colorful raincoat and how she leaves her hair uncovered when it rains. Her shop is warm and scented, and she is chatty and familiar with the many villagers who go in. The village children play with Anouk, despite his attempts to discourage this.

Reynaud’s greatest concern is the houseboats that have arrived. Reynaud expresses his hatred for Romani and other itinerant people, painting them as immoral and lazy. He describes confronting a red-headed man (Michel Roux), who performs a forked hand gesture toward him. Reynaud struggles to understand Roux’s accent. Roux dismisses his instruction to leave, to laughter from others in the boats. Armande then tells Reynaud that the people are moored in front of her house with her blessing, so he cannot drive them out for trespassing. She criticizes how he’s changed, revealing that he grew up in Les Marauds—knowledge that he hopes will die with her. Reynaud vows to his père to rally his parishioners to oust them, showing Vianne that she cannot win against him and the church.

Caro comes into the shop and asks Vianne to display a card banning vagrants, but Vianne refuses, asserting that people can live how they want to. Caro tries to discredit Armande as crazy. Vianne has a vision that Luc secretly cherishes a Rimbaud poetry book that Armande got him. She offers him a chocolate and invites him to see his grandmother in the shop. Caro discourages both, but Luc surreptitiously agrees. Later, Vianne tells Armande, who scorns Caro for forbidding chocolate, saying that Luc needs to live.

Vianne goes into Muscat’s café, Café de la République, which displays one of Caro’s cards. She asks after Josephine, who was evasive earlier. Muscat is disparaging of his wife and again leers at Vianne. He denies entry to five Romani people, including Roux. Vianne leaves with them, inviting them to her shop the next day for something on the house; they are noncommittal. Josephine intercepts Vianne on the way back. They talk about Muscat’s abusive and controlling behavior—he beat her for trying to serve the river people and says that she is ugly compared to Caro, at whom he looks in church. Vianne promises that she now has someone to turn to.

Vianne disassembles her window display, sharing the goods with Anouk and her friends. Jeannot says that she should make a new display for Easter. Vianne recalls seeing lavish Easter chocolates and treasuring the meagre little treat that her mother could afford. Her mother told her fantastical stories, borrowing from different cultures and belief systems to create a tale connecting chocolate to Easter bells. The children beg her for a grand festival of chocolate; she agrees. Jeannot and Anouk make a decorated poster together. Vianne works on a sumptuous window display. She manifests a feeling of welcome to draw people in, countering Caro’s hostility to the travelers. Armande visits; Vianne notices that she wears red underwear beneath her black clothes. She insists on sugar in her chocolate drink. She brought the Romani people supplies in return for their work on her roof, preferring them to Georges. Just as she gives up on Luc ever coming, Luc arrives to see her, having snuck away. He brings the poetry book; Armande asks his favorite poem, and when he reads it, he no longer has a stutter. They drink chocolate together, despite Caro’s warnings that it will give him spots. Later, Vianne has a vision of the Black Man in the church tower turning the machinery and standing over an old man in a bed full of tubes. She asks if that’s Reynaud’s father, and Armande just says that he is another priest.

When opening the shop, Vianne finds Roux waiting outside in the drizzle. Inside, she gives him chocolate to drink. He is wary but friendly to Anouk, calling her a “little stranger.” He reluctantly asks for a favor, stressing that he doesn’t want money. Georges is the only supplier of the materials that he needs to mend Armande’s roof but refuses to sell to him. Vianne offers to ask Georges for the materials instead. She offends Roux by offering him a pastry on the house, but she explains that she has gifted something to everyone in the village, regardless of their character. He invites her and Anouk to visit him next time. He leaves when Vianne’s regulars arrive. Charly is sicker, and Guillaume lingers longer than normal. Reynaud has belittled his love for Charly again. Guillaume is visiting the vet this morning but clings to hope, saying that he’ll know when it’s time. Vienne thinks of her mother deteriorating slowly with cancer. She muses that eventually, you have to accept death and save some dignity. She would choose a painless death with a loving presence. She realizes that she has spoken aloud; they say farewell, and Guillaume leaves carrying Charly.