Line #30 Film/Chocolat


1	[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Chocolat.jpg]]
2
3	->''"I have a knack for guessing people's favorites."''
4	-->-- '''Vianne'''
5
6	''Chocolat'' is a 2000 British-American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Creator/LasseHallstrom and [[TheFilmOfTheBook adapted from]] a novel by the same name by Joanne Harris.
7
8	Once upon a time, a European pharmacist/explorer fell in love with and married a South American woman who was destined from birth to move as the wind blows, sharing her "ancient cacao remedies" with unhappy people. He brought her to Europe, but she didn't stay with him, departing with their daughter Vianne to move from place to place with the "clever North wind."
9
10	In 1959, the now-grown Vianne (Creator/JulietteBinoche) and her own daughter Anouk (Victoire Thivisol) are living this same lifestyle -- though Anouk hopes to settle down someday -- and as the film begins they move into the stuffy, traditional French Catholic village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes. The village is run by the Comte de Reynaud (Creator/AlfredMolina), a man who has stricter moral standards than the local priest and holds ''everyone'' to them.
11
12	Using the secret recipes of her mother's people, Vianne opens a chocolaterie during Lent, earning the Comte's disapproval. Although at first, the townspeople give her a chilly reception, they slowly warm up to her as they are tempted by her fabulous concoctions. She convinces abused wife Josephine Muscat (Creator/LenaOlin) to leave her drunk husband Serge (Creator/PeterStormare) and come work with her at the chocolaterie. She reunites young Luc Clairmont with his grandmother Armande (Creator/JudiDench), a passionate and sarcastic woman deemed a bad influence by Luc's conservative mother Caroline (Creator/CarrieAnneMoss). Hidden passions left buried for years are brought to the surface with the help of the chocolate.
13
14	The Comte fears that Vianne is a threat to his control on the town and behaves accordingly, warning all the townspeople of the dangerous and evil nature of her chocolate. He spreads rumors about her atheism and liberal lifestyle, and even uses the local priest as a mouthpiece for his own ideas.
15
16	Conflict is further stirred up by the arrival of a group of Romani, led by the impetuous and handsome Roux (Creator/JohnnyDepp). Vianne, recognizing fellow outcasts, is the only shop owner in the town not to "boycott immorality" and refuse them service. She and Armande even contrive to unite them with the more liberal members of the town during Armande's 70th birthday celebration.
17
18	Although she changes everyone else's lives in the process, Vianne herself is changed by the people she meets in the town, specifically Roux -- with whom she develops a romantic relationship -- Josephine, and Armande. Whether or not Vianne can overcome her wanderlust is as big a question as whether severity or joy will finally win out over the town.
19
20	Primarily remembered today as having been nominated for several UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, including Best Picture, in what commentators then and now regard as the most JustForFun/{{egregious}} example of Creator/MiramaxFilms' notorious Oscar campaigns; this resulted in a huge backlash that has [[OvershadowedByControversy dogged the film ever since]]. Based on a novel by Joanne Harris [[AdaptationDisplacement which apparently nobody reads]], with all the NightmareFuel taken out. Creator/LeslieCaron has a small role as Madame Audel.
21
22	Not to be confused with the 2016 French film ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolat_(2016_film) Chocolat]]'' with Creator/OmarSy, which is about one of the earliest successful black entertainers in France. Also not to be confused with ''Film/{{Chocolate}}'', a Thai film about an autistic girl who goes after her ailing mother's debtors to pay for her chemotherapy.
23
24	----
25
26	[[folder: Tropes in the Original Novel and sequels]]
27
28	* AnalogyBackfire: Subverted. When Vianne finds out that [[spoiler:Armande is going blind in a year, and that Armande decides that she's going to die in the comfort of her home, Vianne starts to cry.]] Armande points out that Vianne told Guillaume that Charley would have preferred dignity [[spoiler:as opposed to succumbing to pain, but Vianne retorts that Armande isn't a dog. Armande agrees; she isn't because, unlike Charley, she has a choice.]]
29	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: This is what ends up stopping [[spoiler:Zozie]]; Anouk while struggling with her asks, [[spoiler:"What was in the black pinata?" in Dia de Los Muertos]].
30	* BabyBeMine: In ''Chocolat'', it's gradually revealed through reminiscences that [[spoiler:Vianne's mother Jeanne]] stole her from a neighbour, reasoning to herself that she would take better care of the child. [[spoiler:Vianne]] and her birth mother are reunited in ''The Girl with No Shadow'' long after [[spoiler:Jeanne]]'s death, and while [[spoiler:Vianne]] still loves her she eventually acknowledges that her abduction was a terrible sin.
31	* BadSamaritan: Zozie in ''The Girl With No Shadow''.
32	* BeingGoodSucks: After his HeelFaceTurn, [[spoiler:Reynaud finds that his parishioners don't appreciate that he is stricter on them about tolerance. This becomes pronounced when he chides a local boy for writing racist slurs on a wall in Les Merauds, and the boy's father protests that Reynaud grabbed his ear and made him scrub off the words.]]
33	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Anouk is a sweet little girl who grows into a well-meaning if bitter teenager who sees more about the world than even her mother does. [[spoiler:She's also infected her bullies with ringworm thanks to a spell Zozie taught her, and in the past, she killed a social worker and a priest that would have taken her and Rosette away from her mother.]]
34	* BittersweetEnding: In ''Chocolat'' and ''The Girl With No Shadow''
35	** ''Chocolat'': Josephine escapes her husband's influence, the Easter Festival goes as planned and Reynaud is caught in the act of [[spoiler: trying to sabotage the gift boxes]], but [[spoiler: Armande is dead]] and Lansquenet no longer needs Vianne.
36	** ''The Girl With No Shadow'': Vianne and Anouk succeed in [[spoiler: driving Zozie off and Vianne reconciles with her real mother and Roux]] at the price of losing [[spoiler: Thierry and the chocolaterie in Montmarte]], and [[spoiler: Zozie]] remains alone.
37	* {{Blackmail}}: Why Reynaud leaves Armande Voizin alone; she remembers that he [[spoiler: tossed a MolotovCocktail that killed a gypsy couple in their boat]] and could easily spill the beans and ruin his reputation.
38	* BrokenPedestal: While Vianne still loves her mother and honors her memory, she eventually figures out that [[spoiler:Jeanne kidnapped her as a baby from a nearby neighbor named Michele Caillou. The reason for them traveling around the world was partly for Jeanne to run away from her crime since she knows it was a selfish thing to do despite her morphine-induced justifications that Michele left "Sylviane" in the car for a few minutes and couldn't love her enough]]. Vianne admits that as a mother now, she would be terrified of anything similar happening to Anouk, and comes to admit that [[spoiler:Jeanne did a terrible thing to her and Michele]].
39	* ChildByRape: [[spoiler:Karim Bencharki]] was conceived via his mother's rape.
40	* ChildrenAreCruel: Anouk becomes subject to teen classmates bullying her in ''The Girl With No Shadow'' for being different and for having a "retarded sister".
41	* ClearMyName: Part of the plot in ''Peaches for Monsieur le Cure.'' Reynaud has been accused of arson, and though he has been guilty of it in the past, he claims that it's [[NotMeThisTime not him this time]]. Given he meets Vianne ten years after the events of ''Chocolat,'' time has allowed them to forgive each other and work together to find the real culprit.
42	* CoolOldLady: Armande Voizin in ''Chocolat''. Framboise in ''The Girl With No Shadow''.
43	* CreepySouvenir: [[spoiler:Karim Bencharki]] is a SerialRapist who keeps trophies from his victims and prospective victims. One of a teenage Anouk's belongings is found in his collection, although she thankfully falls in the latter group.
44	* DeadlyEuphemism: "Accidents" used in reference to children killing adults or using magic to cause mischief. [[spoiler: Reynaud]] committed an "accident" in ''Chocolat,'' and [[spoiler: Anouk]] does as well in ''The Girl With No Shadow''. Rosette's little magical escapades are less lethal but nevertheless called accidents.
45	* DealWithTheDevil: Vianne ponders on this after reflecting on a life with no magic, even referring to a fairy tale where a boy sold his shadow to a strange man later revealed to be the devil.
46	* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: Subverted. Vianne honors her mother and tries to respect her wishes about going out with a bang. She also is unsettled by the fact that [[spoiler:Jeanne kept a series of newspaper articles about a child kidnapping, and the toddler was Vianne's age, named Sylviane. Zozie confirms in ''The Girl With No Shadow'' that Jeanne kidnapped Sylviane from her neighbor Michele and raised her as her own daughter, tracking down Michele for her ulterior purposes]]. Vianne comes to admit that [[spoiler:Jeanne stole her life from her, even if it was one filled with magic and wonder]].
47	* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Owing to the time period, rural life, and the Catholic Church's prevalence, people in Lanquesnet expect romantic partners to stay in a bad relationship for "the sanctity of marriage". Father Reynaud believes the important part is the confessional absolves them and that the vows matter more than the reality. Armande and Vianne find this to be nonsense; Armande outright laughs derisively when Father Reynaud tries to persuade Josephine to return to her physically abusive husband Paul-Marie, and Vianne has a YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe expression throughout the conversation. Caroline Clairmont keeps ranting about how much "that poor man" has suffered in a bruised Josephine's earshot, though Josephine mentions that Caroline thinks that Josephine is a broken outcast because she and Paul-Marie haven't had children. Roux says that while he would like to show Paul-Marie his fists for what he did to Josephine, the law would not favor him. Understandably, the film softens this so that Reynaud had no idea that Paul-Marie had hit Josephine, and confronts him in anger when Vianne shows Reynaud the bruise.
48	* DidntThinkThisThrough: Anouk didn't consider the moral consequences of [[spoiler:casting a spell to get rid of the Kindly Ones, a social worker and priest that tried to take her and Rosette away while Vianne was out of the flat.]] The end results give her nightmares.
49	* DomesticAbuse: Josephine Muscat suffers this from Paul-Marie. Vianne later suffers emotional abuse at Thierry's hands, which she calls him out for, mainly in how he tries to control her life as well as her daughter's lives.
50	* DontYouDarePityMe:
51	** Roux hates people offering him handouts or unnecessary jobs for this reason. He lightens up a bit after Armande nearly dies and Vianne hires him for woodwork in the house.
52	** This is ultimately what defeats [[spoiler:Zozie]]; she can't stand that [[spoiler:Anouk pities her for loving nothing and lacking a heart.]]
53	* EveryoneHasStandards: The reason why Josephine eventually leaves her husband: [[spoiler:he had burned down Roux's boat while a party was going on, nearly killing several people including a mother and baby. Josephine tried to stop him, but Paul hit her hard enough to leave another bruise]].
54	* EvilGloating: Zozie enjoys doing this.
55	* FelonyMisdemeanor: Vianne deciding to open up a specialty chocolate shop on the first day of Lent, right across from the village church, puts her instantly at odds with Francis, who sees it as an affront against restraint.
56	* FoodPorn: The feast at Armande's birthday party: ''soupe de tomates à la Gasconne'' served with anchovy tart, ''plateau de fruits de mer'' for the main course which includes a huge lobster, with elderflower sorbet, herb salad and ''foie gras'' on toast as palate cleansers, and a cake fondue for dessert with homemade ice cream.
57	* FluffyTheTerrible: The "Kindly Ones" as Vianne names them. They are a social worker and a priest who tried to take Anouk and Rosette away from her, all because she would not baptize Rosette.
58	* FromBadToWorse: In between ''Chocolat'' and ''The Girl With No Shadow'' the wind pulled on Vianne and Anouk so hard that she abandoned magic completely, and the "Kindly Ones" -- a social worker and a priest-- followed her after she gave birth to a baby with ''cri du chat''. No wonder Vianne becomes so disillusioned.
59	* GRatedSex: Most of the chocolate the townspeople eat make them feel bliss and other rich sinful passionate feelings. Enough to make them go to confessional for those "sinful" feelings.
60	* GoldDigger: Inverted; Vianne has no interest in marrying her landlord Thierry, but he controls her rent and could keep her family safe. He's the one putting pressure on her and has financial power. [[spoiler:When he learns that Roux is Rosette's father, and that "Yanne" is Vianne Rocher, and that she lied to him about everything, he gives her notice to close her shop and move out of the building.]]
61	* GrandTheftMe: A more mundane sort in ''The Girl With No Shadow.'' Zozie steals identities and lives for money, sometimes ForTheEvulz, and she plans to take Vianne's life. At least, that's what she tells Vianne; [[spoiler: she really wants Anouk, to become a mother and mentor to her]].
62	* HeelFaceTurn: After the events of ''Chocolat'', [[spoiler:''Reynaud'' goes from being a {{Hypocrite}} prejudiced priest to a ReasonableAuthorityFigure when North African Muslims move into Les Merauds. What's more, the narration emphasizes that he does this despite the village not liking that he is more tolerant.]]
63	* {{Hypocrite}} :
64	** Reynaud. He preaches about wanting to save the town's citizens from eternal damnation but turns a blind eye when Muscat beats his wife. Armande Voizin calls him out on this. [[spoiler:In ''Peaches for Monsieur le Cure'', he gets better about this but has his moments.]]
65	** Vianne later becomes one when cutting magic from the girls' lives. Anouk knows this and becomes resentful.
66	* IdiotBall: A few instances:
67	** In ''Chocolat'' Josephine goes alone to her old house to get her clothes and books before her ex-husband throws them out. It was Sunday, during church, but Paul-Marie stayed at home...
68	** In ''The Girl With No Shadow'' Jean-Loup gives Anouk photographic proof that Zozie is an identity thief and not what she seems to be. Anouk in response tears the photographs up because she won't hear anything bad about Zozie. ''Cue FacePalm from the audience.''
69	* ImplausibleDeniability: Vianne [[SandInMyEyes never cries]]. She would like you to know that.
70	* JerkassHasAPoint:
71	** The main reason why Caroline Clairmont wants her mother in a nursing home is that Armande is getting old and unable to care for herself; she has no idea that [[spoiler:Armande is prepared to FaceDeathWithDignity, since Armande has hid that from everyone, and Caro feels responsible despite their falling out]].
72	** The only legitimate point that Thierry makes is that [[spoiler:Vianne lied to him about everything: from her name to her marital status, and that she never came clean to him about anything. Vianne wasn't interested in a relationship with him apart from losing her chocolate shop, but he has a legitimate reason, to call her out.]]
73	* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: [[spoiler: Thierry]] in ''The Girl With No Shadow'', to almost no one's surprise.
74	* KarmaHoudini: As revealed in ''Peaches for Monsieur le Cure'', Francis Reynaud despite [[spoiler:breaking into Vianne's shop with the intent of destroying her Easter gift boxes]] kept his position as the village priest. What starts the story is that he only gets fired after being framed for arson.
75	* ManicPixieDreamGirl:
76	** An odd case where the narrator Vianne is one. She's always cheerful, encouraging her customers to think differently with chocolates and pagan practices, and manages to solve others' problems. By the time ''The Girl With No Shadow'' takes place, however, she has grown out of it.
77	** Zozie is a [[DeConstruction Deconstruction]] of one; although her presence improves Vianne's life, she has ulterior motives.
78	* MolotovCocktail: As a boy [[spoiler: Reynaud used one to torch a gypsy ship, and killed a sleeping couple inside.]]
79	* NeverMessWithGranny: Armande Voizin. She saves Josephine [[spoiler: from her husband Paul-Marie]] with Guillaume's help and indirectly blackmails Reynaud, knowing that [[spoiler: he murdered two gypsies by setting their boat on fire with a MolotovCocktail]].
80	* NotSoDifferentRemark: When a drunken Muscat confesses to Reynaud that he "helped" with the gypsies [[spoiler: after attacking Josephine and burning down Roux's boat]], Armande chuckles and says that Reynaud and Muscat are two of a kind, since [[spoiler: Reynaud as a child did the same thing.]]
81	** More generally, Vianne and each of her antagonists: she and Reynaud are both spiritual figures who attempt to influence the lives of those around them for the better; she and Zozie are both witches on the run, using magic and glamour to change themselves and get by; she and Ines Bencharki are both single women with children who have faced the shame and condemnation of society [[spoiler: and it turns out Ines also possesses magical abilities]]. The similarities between Vianne and Reynaud become even more pronounced during Peaches for Monsieur le Cure when he has [[TookALevelInKindness become more sensitive and understanding and less uptight]].
82	* PetTheDog: How Zozie worms her way into Vianne's life in ''The Girl With No Shadow.'' She makes Vianne a cup of Mexican hot chocolate after Rosette has an episode in the shop, and slowly helps Vianne revert to the ManicPixieDreamGirl that she used to be. The novel becomes a gradual Deconstruction of this trope, showing that a person who does good things isn't necessary good.
83	* PrimalScene: As a teenager, Reynaud walked in on his mother [[spoiler:having a tryst with the priest who had been his mentor]]. The discovery resulted in [[spoiler:the priest suffering a shock-induced stroke, the divorce of Reynaud's parents]], and Reynaud being sent away to study in Paris.
84	* RelativeError: Inès Bencharki accompanies her brother Karim throughout his life, eventually settling down in Lansquenet-sous-Tannes after attending his wedding there. Her asocial behaviour causes much speculation in the community as to their true relationship, with the most common rumour being that she's his mistress or first wife. [[spoiler:The truth is that she's actually his ''mother''.]]
85	* {{Revenge}}: Zozie runs on this, and has since she was a small child. She starts training Anouk in the fine art of it.
86	* RewatchBonus: Vianne recalls how one time, her mother confessed to a priest about something she had did. He said that she must surrender Vianne to the proper authorities for the child's sake and what she did was a sin; Jeanne ran into the night with her daughter. She, and the readers, assume it's because Jeanne had Vianne out of wedlock. [[spoiler:The truth is more complicated; ''Chocolat'' has Vianne finding newspaper clippings her mother kept of a child named Sylviane Callou who was kidnapped from her mother's car when the latter was picking up a prescription. Jeanne had confessed that she kidnapped the baby, and the priest reasonably was pointing out that it was a "sin" to steal someone else's child and leave the real parents bereft. ''The Girl With No Shadow'' confirms that Jeanne did commit this crime]].
87	* RuleOfThree: Vianne gives Father Francis some oyster-shaped pralines, and later on invites him for a free cup of chocolate. [[spoiler:He doesn't give in until he breaks into her shop, and starts gorging on the chocolates in the display window.]]
88	* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler: Zozie]] is one after her mother wanted to take her to a doctor, following her poisoning a bunch of people at a dance.
89	* SkewedPriorities: Armande Voizin calls out Father Reynaud for caring more about "the sanctity of marriage" when Josephine leaves Paul-Marie rather than the fact that Paul has been beating up his wife on a regular basis and close to the climax [[spoiler:nearly murders her]].
90	* SocialServicesDoesNotExist: Subverted; they do, only they follow the religious side of the law. A social worker and a priest tracked down Vianne and tried to take away Rosette and Anouk when Vianne was out of their living space; only [[spoiler: Anouk killing them with a spell caused them to go away]].
91	* SouthernGothicSatan: Inverted. Vianne uses her MaybeMagicMaybeMundane chocolate powers to draw out the good in the townsfolk. Their passions, love for life and each other, etc.
92	* TeensAreMonsters: Teenage girls are at least to Anouk; she gets along better with teen boys. In Zozie's teenage years, a spat of bullying led to her in retaliation [[spoiler: poisoning a number of people at a school dance]].
93	* TheLastDance: Armande Voizin's birthday. A diabetic who will go blind, she decides to [[spoiler: stop taking her medicine]] and go all out in an extravagant feast, complete with plenty of wine.
94	* TookALevelInKindness: Reynaud between ''Chocolat'' and ''Peaches for Monsieur le Cure'', to the point where he and Vianne become similar.
95	* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Fortunately for Vianne, most of her customers have favorites. Her own are ''mendiants,'' biscuit-shaped chocolates that are sprinkled with raisins. Guillaume in ''Chocolat'' likes florentines and often shares them with his dog, Charley.
96	* WhatTheHellHero: Framboise, the old woman from ''Five Quarters Of An Orange'', gave this to a social worker and priest that tried to take Anouk and Rosette from the flat Vianne was renting, on a day when Vianne was out looking for work. They had apparently told Anouk that her mother's tales were sinful, that she and Rosette were being neglected, and that she needed to go with them. Framboise booted them out and made Anouk a strong cup of tea with sugar. She says that anyone with half of brain could see that neither Anouk nor Rosette have been neglected.
97	* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Reynaud in ''Chocolat'', up until the end. Afterwards, ten years later, he is framed for arson in ''Peaches for Monsieur le Cure''.
98	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Reynaud in ''Chocolat''. Joanne Harris assures us that he has mellowed since in time for ''Peaches for Monsieur le Cure''.
99	[[/folder]]
100
101	[[folder:Tropes in the Film]]
102	* AnAesop: You don't have to follow familial traditions forever. [[spoiler: Soon, Vianne learns this and stays in one place]].
103	* ActorAllusion:
104	** Anouk Rocher comes into the store and says, "They're here!", and Vianne Rocher says "who's here?", and Anouk says "Pirates!" They go outside, and see Roux playing the guitar. Then Anouk says, "I bet he's the Captain." Depp, who plays the character Roux, played pirate Captain Jack Sparrow in the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' film franchise.
105	** Lena Olin and Johnny Depp appeared in ''The Ninth Gate'' (1999).
106	* ActuallyPrettyFunny: When Vianne and Anouk first meet Roux, he's a bit gruff and refers to himself and the other boat people as "river rats". Anouk asks, with InnocentInaccurate sincerity, asks if river rats are like pirates. Roux can't help but smile and say [[SureLetsGoWithThat yes]]. He shows off his treasure: necklaces for sale.
107	* AdaptationalHeroism:
108	** Vianne Rocher's mother. The book series at first hints, and later confirms, that [[spoiler:she kidnapped her neighbor's baby and traveled the world to run from her crime. Here, Vianne is legitimately her daughter and she committed no kidnapping]].
109	** Francis Reynaud in the film. He greets Anouk and Vianne warmly before learning that neither is religious and that Vianne had Anouk out of wedlock, and is unaware of Muscat abusing his wife. The minute Vianne shows him Josephine's bruise, he gets angry at Muscat and forces him into confessional and to clean up his image. He also exiles Muscat for [[spoiler: burning down Roux's boat and nearly killing the people on board.]]
110	** Caroline Clairmont in the books is a vapid AlphaBitch that micromanages her son, ostracizes Josephine, and attempts to bully her mother into going into a nursing home. In the movie, she's more reasonable in reminding Luc that he's giving up chocolate for Lent and genuinely worries about her mother's condition.
111	** Roux is much less abrasive here than he is in the book, though he remains a DeadpanSnarker. It helps that he has necklaces to sell rather than having to rely on others hiring him for labor and that the gypsies face less prejudice from the villagers. In addition, he doesn't fall for Vianne and Josephine at the same time.
112	* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Averted. [[spoiler: While raw cacao (in food, drinks, ect) can treat or control diabetes naturally, it's the sweet decadent milk chocolate Armande willingly continues to eat along with the cacao drinks that aggravates her diabetic health]].
113	* AshesToCrashes: In a non-comedic sense. Vianne decides that she cannot win against Reynaud's strict traditions, and decides to move on. Anouk refuses to go, and during a scuffle, the urn containing the ashes of Vianne's mother falls and shatters.
114	* BewareTheNiceOnes: When Serge threatens Vianne and Josephine, the quiet, abused Josephine retaliates with a skillet to his head.
115	%% * BlitheSpirit: Vianne.
116	* BittersweetEnding: Josephine escapes her husband's influence, the Easter Festival goes as planned and Reynaud is caught in the act of [[spoiler: trying to sabotage the gift boxes]], but [[spoiler: Armande is dead]] and Lansquenet no longer needs Vianne.
117	* BrokenBird: Josephine, who is escaping an abusive marriage.
118	* ButNowIMustGo: [[spoiler:Subverted at the end of the film. Originally Vianne packs up and contemplates relocating to another village due to her hereditary tradition of dispensing ancient cacao remedies. Once she sees Josephine and some others pitching in to help with her chocolatery, she decides to stay.]]
119	* ChildrenAreCruel: Anouk becomes subject to classmates bullying her for having an imaginary friend that is a kangaroo.
120	* ChocolateOfRomance: It provides the page image. The movie can be considered to be almost centered around this trope. Many a man buys chocolates from Vianne's shop for their loved ones or they are inspired to court women they have a crush on.
121	-->'''Vianne Rocher''': And these are for your husband. Unrefined cacao nips from Guatemala, to awaken the passions.\
122	'''Yvette Marceau''': Psshh. You've obviously never met my husband.\
123	'''Vianne Rocher''': Well, you've obviously never tried these.
124	* CoolOldLady: Armande is an awesome grandmother (buying her grandson a book of Rimbaud's poetry) and friend, celebrating the finer things of life [[spoiler: up until the end.]]
125	* CoversAlwaysLie: The DVD cover would have you think that Roux is a major character alongside Vianne but he doesn't show up until a good hour into the film, and even then his scenes are fairly limited as the love interest and nothing more.
126	* CrisisOfFaith: Comte de Reynaud becomes a better person when he relaxes the more fanatical elements of his faith.
127	%% * DeadpanSnarker:
128	%% ** Roux, most of the time.
129	%% ** Josephine starts talking, she turns into one fairly quickly.
130	* DeadSparks: Yvette and Alphonse suffered from this. Until unrefined cacao nibs helped put the spark back into their marriage.
131	* DecemberDecemberRomance: Guillaume Blerot and the widow Audel. The young priest is at first shocked that Guillaume's for her... at her age and at his age!
132	* DisappearedDad: Anouk's father is only mentioned in the context of the scandal of Vianne being a single woman with a daughter in the '50s (they don't know who he is-apparently Vianne was [[ReallyGetsAround rather promiscuous]]).
133	* {{Disneyfication}}: The anti-religious theme of the movie adaptation was softened by replacing the bitter churchman of the book with a town representative. Also, the town itself was made to look drab and ugly in the opening acts, when the very first scene in the book describes the heroine and her daughter watching a bright parade through the streets of the same town. The novel ended with [[spoiler:a brief, drunken hookup between the heroine and a male supporting character, leaving her pregnant as she left the village to continue drifting. In the movie, the relationship between her and the man is developed into a full romantic subplot, he returns at the end, and the heroine decides she doesn't need to leave the village, breaking the cycle.]] Also [[spoiler:Roux returns with a new boat by the end of the film, while in the book it takes him several years to earn the money.]]
134	* DontYouDarePityMe: Exact words used by Armande when Vianne learns she's diabetic and going blind.
135	* EarnYourHappyEnding: Josephine, who went from being weak and enduring a terrible marriage to becoming a strong, confident woman learning how to craft chocolate and eventually opening up her own cafe and giving it a new name in Armande's honor.
136	* EnvironmentalSymbolism: The townspeople dress in clothes varying in black, grey and dark brown. While the newcomer Vianne wears bright, exotic colors of clothing as she opens up her chocolate shop.
137	* ExactWords: When the Count De Reynaud and Serge see Vianne and Josephine celebrating with the river people, Reynaud says "something must be done, Serge". Serge takes this seriously and decides to sneak over when everyone's sleeping and set fire to their boats.
138	* EveryoneHasStandards: When the rather unsympathetic and unpleasant Comte finds out that Serge [[spoiler:has been beating his wife, he immediately tosses him into confession and forces him to reform. Then when he learns Serge started the fire at the dock in a bid to kill his wife, Vianne, and the Gypsies living there, the Comte is shocked, and he angrily orders Serge to leave the town, telling him that he is forever banished from the village.]]
139	* FanService: The flashback depicting George and Chitza having sex not long after meeting one another for the first time.
140	* FlyawayShot: The movie ends with a zoom-out from the statue to an areal shot of the whole village.
141	* FoodPorn: Chocolate porn, lots and lots of chocolate porn. Especially the slow-motion eating sequences.
142	* ForbiddenFruit: The villagers are tempted to break their Lenten fast with the decadent chocolate.
143	* TheFundamentalist: The Comte de Reynaud is very strict about religion and fanatical about his faith and he wants everybody to behave according to his standards.
144	* GoodIsBoring: The heroine, Vianne, does not conform to the village's definition of "good".
145	* GoAndSinNoMore: Serge tries to abuse this trope, pandering to Reynaud's beliefs to guilt him into keeping quiet about Serge's abuse (repeatedly, even as Serge only gets more violent and sadistic). Eventually, Reynaud replies to Serge's whining, 'Are you going to tell the police what you've done? No? Then I will assume you're not really contrite'.
146	%% * HolierThanThou: The Comte de Reynaud.
147	* HollywoodAtheist: Vianne to the villagers (given that she practices various traditional magics and is going to hold a fertility celebration on Easter, while Vianne is labeled an atheist she probably practices pagan-in a broad sense of the word-beliefs, though she would never label herself as such). To them, any person who just isn't a Catholic seems to qualify. Averted though as she never actually displays any of the traits (nor expresses what her beliefs are, besides them being clearly at odds with theirs).
148	-->'''Boy 1''': I hear she's an atheist.
149	-->'''Boy 2''': What's that?
150	-->'''Boy 1''': ...I don't know.
151	* ImaginaryFriend: Anouk's kangaroo, Pantoufle, [[spoiler:who seems a little less imaginary at the end]] was a way for her to cope with moving from place to place so much. He leaves when she doesn't need him anymore.
152	* AnInsert: In several of the kitchen scenes, you see a woman's hands stirring chocolate. These are not Creator/JulietteBinoche's hands, but an extra's. Vianne's bracelet was added to make it look like her.
153	* LighterAndFluffier: The writer of the original novel explicitly compares it to "milk chocolate", while the source material is darker and bitterer with more of an edge.
154	* MagicRealism: Vianne's chocolate and her ability to guess people's favorites, or Anouk's kangaroo.
155	* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Vianne makes ''the whole village'' way more relaxed and shows them how to enjoy their life. She especially helps Josephine and Armande.
156	* MrFanservice: This film propelled Johnny Depp straight back into the sex-symbol territory he had fought so hard to get out of with his earlier films. He's held this title ever since, albeit in an extremely non-traditional way.
157	* TheMourningAfter: The woman Guillaume is attracted to a woman who lost her husband in the war (a German grenade). No, not that war that was considered recent in the 50s -- he was killed on ''January 12, 1917''. His poor wife has been in mourning for 22 years. [[spoiler: She does begin dating Guillaume by the end.]]
158	* NarratorAllAlong: We only discover at the end of the film that [[spoiler:the narrator is Anouk.]]
159	* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Most characters manage to sound as if they at least knew what a French accent sounded like (it helped that Juliette Binoche is actually French, and so was about half the cast). Johnny Depp, however, decided his character was Irish. This is somewhat justified by his lifestyle as a gypsy. Creator/JudiDench, notably, keeps her natural accent.
160	* OohMeAccentsSlipping: There's at least one whole scene where Alfred Molina completely drops his otherwise fairly convincing French accent and reverts back to his native London accent.
161	* OscarBait: It didn't win any Oscars, but did get five nominations including Best Picture. That it got those five nominations at all, over what many viewed as superior films, became a major [[SeriousBusiness point of contention]]. There's no denying, though, that Judi Dench [[Film/ShakespeareInLove can do no wrong]] and her nomination, at least, was well-deserved.
162	* PreacherMan: Père Henri, a lovable young preacher who not only pays close attention to his flock's spiritual needs, but the quality of their lives. He's just a bit of an ExtremeDoormat when it comes to the seemingly inhumanly devout Comte de Reynaud. Upon seeing him passed out in the chocolaterie's window, he realizes that the man has as much need of guidance as the rest, and starts treating him as another supplicant. Ultimately, he's the one who drops the film's anvil: faith isn't just supposed to condemn sins, it's supposed to encourage virtues - above all, compassion and tolerance.
163	* PreApprovedSermon: The Comte gives this treatment to the priest. He likes to go over his sermons and makes "one or two notes" of suggestions and corrections.
164	* PygmalionSnapback: The Comte's efforts to change Josephine's husband don't work out.
165	* ScrewDestiny: All over. Vianne refuses to obey her late mother's wishes for once to continue on with the tradition of traveling with the winds, and Comte de Reynold decides to abandon his strict ways of living after accidentally tasting some chocolate and realizing the error of his ways.
166	%% * SecretlyDying: Armande is revealed to be this. As she is outed by her daughter Caroline that she has very severe diabetes, she takes insulin injections and that she could be blind within a year. Despite her health, Armande wishes to live out her last years eating chocolate.
167	* SexyDiscretionShot:
168	** After Yvette's husband Alphonse eats some of the cacao nibs and is consumed with passion, he begins to shower his wife with kisses and the overwhelmed Yvette manages to close the bathroom window before the scene fades to black.
169	** Just as Vianne and Roux start kissing, it cuts to the outside of the boat and moaning is heard.
170	* SlainInTheirSleep: Serge attempts this by setting fire to the boats while Josephine and Anouk are sleeping. They escape unscathed but everyone else was shaken up. For a moment, Vianne had believed her daughter had died in the fires.
171	* SexGod: One of the side effects of consuming the chocolate from Vianne's shop is this, as well as the release of one's inhibitions. After a night of passion with her husband, a disheveled messy-haired Yvette walks into Vianne's shop and asks if she has more cacao nibs. Vianne asks her how many does she want, followed with Yvette asking how many does she got and Vianne smiling.
172	* SleepingDummy: Luc pads his bed (with crumpled drawing paper) so he can sneak out to his grandmother's birthday party.
173	* SupremeChef: Vianne's creations are mouth-watering enough to win over an entire town of strict Catholics during Lent.
174	* ThisIsUnforgivable: When the Comte discovers what [[spoiler:Serge]] has done [[spoiler:to the boats]], he realizes that the latter is beyond any possible redemption [[spoiler:so, knowing that, should he call the police, it will, along with the townsfolk, think that it was Reynaud to order to Serge to burn the boats, he banishes Serge forever from the town]].
175	* TrailersAlwaysLie: Some previews suggested that the movie was about someone selling aphrodisiacs disguised as chocolate. This happened in the film, sort of, but only once, and it didn't become a plot point.
176	* VillainousBreakdown: The Comte has a gentle one at the end of the movie, where he [[spoiler:breaks into the chocolate shop intending to destroy it... then he accidentally tastes the chocolate. The rush of simple delight he feels opens a floodgate for all the emotions he's been keeping bottled up inside, and he ends up devouring chocolate [[InelegantBlubbering while sobbing]], until he finally curls up in the remains of the Easter display and falls asleep, to be awoken the next morning by Vianne and an effervescent tablet in a glass of water.]] So it could be said that he gets his just desserts. Vianne is kind to him though and says she won't tell anyone.
177	* WhamLine: "My mother knew Roux's return had nothing to do with a silly old door."
178	[[/folder]]

Context Film / Chocolat