A 'Chocolat' Sampler Trivia Quiz

Answer: The mayor, Le Comte Reynaud

Le Comte (masterfully brought to life by Alfred Molina) is going to be the main antagonist of the film, so it is fitting that we get an early impression of how he feels that he is the personification of the town. (In the original book, it was the parish priest who led the opposition to the opening of a chocolate shop, but in the film Pere Henri is shown as being, at least initially, under the control of Le Comte.) In this opening scene we learn that we are at the start of the season of Lent, a time when Christians traditionally engage in some form of abstinence.

As the wind blows the church door open, the imminent arrival of Vianne Rocher (the protagonist of the film, played by Juliette Binoche) and her daughter Anouk, and the subsequent disturbance of the town's vaunted tranquility (from which Le Comte obtains much satisfaction), is presaged. We then see the two of them, dressed in vivid red cloaks, struggling up the hill towards the town.

Answer: Anouk

The fact that she can do this is ironic in view of the words we have just heard from Armande (a performance for which Judi Dench received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress), "I expect you to keep it in good condition." The shop is derelict, and Vianne will put in a great deal of effort to turn it into the welcoming place it is to become. Slowly she fills it with an array of tempting goodies, and the townspeople find it difficult to resist the temptation offered by Chocolaterie Maya, despite their concern that it is rather decadent, and possibly sinful, to indulge in chocolate, especially during Lent. Vianne displays her knack for guessing what chocolate will be the favorite of each customer (and even for their loved ones, as witnessed by the success of the little packets she sends home).

Answer: He has a nosebleed

Caroline is amazingly overprotective of Luc, and is appalled by this minor event. Her overly protective concern has led her to keep Luc from associating with his grandmother, whom she considers a bad influence. (This is not surprising, as in a subsequent scene we see Armande tell Luc not to worry about "supposed to", but to have some chocolate cake.) It has also kept him from a range of normal childhood experiences, and may be part of the reason why he seems to be obsessed with death, which is the subject of several of the drawings we see on the wall of his room.

This dysfunctional family seems to be typical of the town, where tranquility has been maintained by ignoring, as much as possible, the existence of anything unpleasant.

Answer: Her grandparents

Vianne has turned the story of her parents into a fairy-tale style of narrative, one she repeats in the same words each night. In brief, her father Georges was a pharmacist who joined an expedition to Central America. There he drank unrefined cacao with a pinch of chili, a drink said to unlock hidden dreams and reveal destinies.

His destiny appeared in the form of Chitza, a wanderer of Mayan descent who moved with the north wind, dispensing remedies to those she met. They returned to France, and she stayed long enough that Vianne was old enough to accompany her when she left to travel again. Mother and daughter set off, wearing what appear to be the same red cloaks as those worn by Vianne and Anouk in the opening scene.

Answer: Josephine

Josephine, wife of the café owner Serge, finally leaves her abusive husband and seeks refuge with Vianne. We see her gaining in self-confidence as she gains skill in the preparation of chocolates, and realizes that she can control her own life. When Le Comte discovers that she has left Serge, he first tries to force her to return and respect the sanctity of marriage.

When he is made aware of how Serge has mistreated her, he then undertakes the task of turning Serge into a gentleman so that he will have the moral high ground again.

The battle of chateau versus chocolaterie for control of the townsfolk is now on for young and old.

Answer: "How do you do. I'd like to apologize."

Roux (charmingly played by Johnny Depp) is clearly used to being rejected by the small-minded residents of the riverside towns where he and his people visit on their journeys. He is surprised to find someone as unconventional (and beautiful) as Vianne.

In a later scene we see Serge refuse to serve him, and the little girl with him who wants a drink, in the cafe, followed by Vianne calling them in to her shop. As a friendly response, he offers to fix the broken window in her shop door. It is while he is doing this that he and Anouk get into a conversation about why Pantoufle won't try chocolate that leads to Roux pretending to eat a worm, to show that he his more adventurous than the invisible kangaroo. Vianne is frustrated to discover that she cannot predict his favorite chocolate, as she has infallibly done with others. We wonder whether her first offering really was his favorite, and he is merely denying it as a form of courtship game; it certainly gains her attention, and the interchange is repeated several times during the movie before he tells her that she has finally succeeded.

Answer: Distributing leaflets

Thinking his mother safely ensconced at the hairdressers for an hour, Luc has gone to meet his grandmother at their regular rendezvous in the shop. However, Caroline has promised Le Comte to distribute leaflets throughout the town protesting the rising immorality he perceives in the town.

Their text reads, "Boycott immorality. Our beloved village rests upon a solid foundation of Family, Church and Community. To keep Lansquenet safe and tranquil, we must close our doors to outsiders whose only tradition is self-gratification, whose only creed is godlessness, and whose only possible effect is the moral contamination of our village. We must give these outsiders no quarter! We must make them unwelcome in our homes, on our streets, and in our places of business. Thank you for your cooperation, Lansquenet Town Council", but they are part of his personal vendetta. Caroline is going past the shop (she clearly didn't expect Vianne to post a leaflet protesting against her own presence) when she spies her son and mother together, and comes rushing in.

This is when we find out that Armande suffers from diabetes, making her consumption of chocolate not only self-indulgent, but also reckless. Caroline's wish for her go to an institution where she will receive proper medical care, frustrated by her insistence on remaining independent, is a significant part of the estrangement between the two.

Answer: Throw her a 70th birthday party

The birthday party starts with a sumptuous meal, attended by Roux and some of the townsfolk who have not deserted Vianne. Caroline tells Luc he cannot attend, but he runs away to give Armande his gift - the drawing on which he has been working during their visits in Vianne's shop.

The party moves to Roux's boat for dessert and dancing, a scene of revelry that leads Le Comte to declare to Serge that something must be done. Serge interprets this to mean violence, and sets fire to the boats after Luc has escorted Armande home, and the others have settled to sleep on the boats. Fortunately, no lives are lost, but the river people move on, and Le Comte sends Serge from the village as penance for his act.

Answer: Repairing a bike for him to ride

Caroline's response to seeing the joy on Luc's face as he dances with his grandmother on the boats is the realisation that Luc needs to be allowed to act like a boy, and to grow up ready to face the world; her repair of the bike is symbolic of this dramatic change in her understanding of responsible parenting.

The incorrect options are all the actions of others. After Armande's funeral, when the priest blames those who led her into temptation, Vianne is ready to give up, and packs her bags. Anouk, however, refuses to go; in the struggle, the urn containing Chitza's ashes is broken. When they reach the shop at the foot of the stairs, they see Josephine and their other friends beavering away on preparing chocolate for the festival. This makes Vianne realise that not everyone in town is against her, and she decides to stay for the festival.

On Easter Eve, Le Comte breaks into the shop and attacks a chocolate statue of a naked woman in the display window. When a piece of the chocolate accidentally falls into his mouth, his frenzied destruction turns into frenzied consumption. The next morning Pere Henri discovers him passed out in the window, face covered in chocolate. His disgrace is not made public, but the Easter sermon is on the topic of Christ as being inherently accepting, not denying, in nature.

Answer: Anouk

The voice is clearly female, but the wording of the narration is kept ambiguous for most of the film. Only at the end do we discover that we have been listening to the memories of Anouk. The final scenes which she narrates include the throwing of (what is left of) Chitza's ashes into the wind, a symbolic gesture from Vianne to show that she is ready to settle down and the return of Roux the following summer on the pretext that the shop door still squeaks and needs fixing. Now that Anouk is no longer roaming from town to town, she has no further need of the companionship of Pantoufle; he hops out of her life, his injured leg fully healed. Josephine takes over control of the café her husband abandoned, renaming it Café Armande.

The film closes with a shot of the statue in the town square (Le Comte's grandfather, who was successful in expelling the Huguenots from town and establishing its previously-cherished tranquility) holding a red balloon. Life wins.