Discussion Point #11

[captainjacksparrow]

Originally Posted by Karen 6th June 2004


On to the supporting characters.........how did they add to or
detract from the story? Guilliaume and Charly? Madame Audel (Leslie
Caron)? The Marceaus (the couple eating the chocolate nibs)? Pere
Henri? How did the storytellers and the director use the townspeople
to show the changes in the village, in the people?

[jeppody]

Anne


Sorry to sound dense here Karen, but our we talking about the film or
the book or both, I seem to have lost the plot.

[jeppody]

Karen


Not dense, I should have been clearer.......the movie.

[jeppody]

Anne


Ok, I'll give this a go, but I just hope I remember who everybody is.
Actually, I think I will talk about them on mass, as it were! I liked
all of them very much and I feel they were very important to the
story. They are each affected by Vianne in some way, and it is all to
the good. Vianne brings them all closer together and with Armandes
help they eventually do what they want, against the wishes of
Reynaud, eat chocolate and join the river people (who they come to
accept) on the boats for some fun. I think that before Vianne arrived
they were only acquaintences, but by the end of the film they were
friends, and she does it all with chocolate! I particularly like the
way Vianne uses Charly as a way to get to know Guilliaume.

[jeppody]

Helen


The supporting characters were the reason Vianne came to the town. The town, whose name escapes me at the moment, was fractured. Vianne helped Guilliaume and the widow come together. Pere Henri came into his own instead of being a puppet of the Count. It seems everyone had their own awakening.

[jeppody]

SuzieboozieluvsJD


My favorite way in which they show it is the party scene - I love it
when they all sound like they are drunk and dinner, and dancing on
the boat.
It seems to me this is when you see they have finally changed their
attitudes - and in Caroline - I think she thought when she saw the
empty table and her son on the boat that she had better make some
changes within herself, or she was going to lose her son anyway -
not to death, but to other people who live life. I do not think
Reynaud would have ever changed if he had not finally fallen to the
sin of the chocolate - had that not happened (probably from
starvation) it would not have broken his spirit to chase Vianne out
of town.

[jeppody]

Karen


Oh I had forgotten the party scene! And I think Vianne's chocolat
festival of Easter Sunday shows the way the whole town got involved
with each others lives.

[jeppody]

Helen


The scene before the festival where Vianne is leaving and sees the ladies, including Caroline, making the chocolate also shows a change in their attitude towards each other especially towards Vianne. Come to think of it, it shows a change in attitude towards life.

[jeppody]

Cathy


I really love this scene, as well- the community pitching in to help
Vianne, this time! It might not have been something they would
have had the cohesion to do, before Vianne's arrival. The
commentary remarked in particular about the look on Anouk's
face, and it really is quite striking, how overwhelmed she is at the
sight of everyone helping out. She seems a gifted young
actress!