Chocolat

Josephine’s confidence flourishes while working in the shop. She borrows Vianne’s colorful clothing and looks prettier. Armande, Luc, and Guillaume eat chocolate together. Roux comes in, looking thinner and with minor injuries from the fire. He is taken aback, recognizing Josephine from the café, but she says that she lives here now and introduces herself with her birth name. Vianne asks if he would do some work for her, but he responds with hostility that he doesn’t need anyone’s help. He only came to ask if she saw anyone near his boat that night. He leaves angrily, and Josephine is shaken. Nonetheless, Vianne thinks that he’ll stay in the village, as he has nowhere else to go.

Luc has been visiting Armande and planting colorful flowers for her. He plans to buy her a silk slip for her birthday. Roux will not respond when Vianne calls at the derelict house in which he is holed up. She leaves Anouk playing by the river, sailing a paper boat and imagining a crocodile attack, which Vianne can almost see. Later, they have pastries with Josephine. She asks if the fire could have been an accident and what would happen if Roux found out who caused it. Vianne asks her who did it, but Josephine claims not to know. Anouk says that she saw Roux: He offered to build her a proper boat and invited her in, as long as she didn’t tell Vianne. Josephine warns her not to go back in case Roux is violent, but Vianne says that it’s fine as long as Anouk tells her.

A funeral in the village reminds Vianne of her mother’s low-key cremation. She wanted to go out with a bang, so Vianne scattered her ashes on the Fourth of July. Josephine finds it somber, but Vianne thinks that life should be celebrated, as is traditional in Chinese funeral parties. Narcisse comes in and explains that the deceased person experienced mental decline years ago and was in a nursing home. Though he and Josephine feel that they shouldn’t, out of respect, they accept some confectionary. Roux runs in. Ashamed of his outburst, he visited Armande but found her half-conscious. He gave her brandy, and she collapsed. Remembering that she is diabetic, he fears that he has killed her trying to help, and he is afraid that the police will blame him. Vianne and Roux run to Armande. Vianne injects her with insulin, familiar with needles because she administered her mother’s morphine in her final weeks. To Roux’s intense relief, Armande revives. She explains that she won’t change her ways—she does not want to restrict her life in order to live longer when everyone must die eventually. Caro, Reynaud, and the doctor arrive with other villagers. They tell her that she must take better care, and Caro advocates for the nursing home. Armande asserts her independence and asks them all to leave except Roux, to whom she wants to speak. Caro questions this contemptuously, but everyone leaves.

Reynaud visits Armande, but Roux won’t let him in. He argues that she is risking death just for chocolates. Waiting in the rain, he grows dizzy and leaves. He believes that he has failed with Armande and Josephine. He is tormented by the sound of laughter and the scent of chocolate and perfume wafting from the shop. He dreams of chocolate, so he cuts down on his sleep and his food even more. In the churchyard, he struggles to contain the colorful, wild vegetation, even though the Bible says that people have mastery over plants. However, while walking by, Vianne compliments the garden. He tells her that she must influence Josephine and Armande to do the right thing, and he pities Anouk being raised without God and morals. Vianne does not believe in sin, prioritizing happiness, though she says that Anouk knows right from wrong. To Vianne’s surprise, Reynaud warns that Armande will go blind soon, revealing the full details of her condition.

Armande admits to Vianne that her diabetes is destroying her sight. She wants to die before this happens, to avoid losing her independence in a home. Unlike Charly, she has a choice. She comforts a crying Vianne, who remembers both shock and relief at her mother’s death. Armande plans to take her medicine until her birthday and invite everyone to a lavish party catered by Vianne.

Roux works on an attic room for Anouk. Vianne works hard on chocolate for the festival with Josephine. She has spread the word to larger towns nearby, and other locals have planned events and stalls. Should it go well, she and Anouk could afford to settle properly. She is amazed by Josephine’s optimism in humans despite what she’s been through. She sees Reynaud’s misery working in the garden and is baffled by his motives. Anouk says that he came into school to talk about Easter, but he was nice, inviting her to visit the church and see St. Francis’s animals. Vianne tells herself that the Black Man is just a myth and that she does not have to flee when the wind changes like her mother. In their shared room, Anouk asks her to sing the song about the wind again.

Caro bemoans Luc’s friendship with Armande to Reynaud, over which they have argued. Reynaud sympathizes with Caro, and they blame Vianne for this and other disruptions. Reynaud says that, as Vianne hasn’t broken the law, nothing can be done. Caro says that the group of loyal villagers can ruin the chocolate festival, driving her out financially. Reynaud says that he cannot be seen as being involved. He despises Caro’s spite and her fawning to him, but he sees her as a necessary agent for his work.

Roux works on Anouk’s room and stays with Armande. He plans to work for Narcisse over the summer and then buy an old riverboat to do up. Caro and Joline come to the shop and tell Vianne that Anouk has been bringing up pagan ideas and asking questions when Reynaud visits the school to talk about Easter. Vianne offers them chocolate, and they leave. The next day, she and Josephine find leaflets proselytizing that the chocolate festival corrupts the Christian Easter. Josephine, afraid, admits that Muscat started the fire, having beaten her when she tried to dissuade him. She feels guilty, as someone could have been hurt. Vianne wonders if that’s why Josephine avoids Roux. She says that she has to tell him and gives her a cup of chocolate to take to help. She goes for a walk to give Josephine and Roux space, admiring the flowers by the river. When she gets back, they seem happy. They start to spend time together, and Josephine decides to go and fetch her things from the café when Muscat is in church on Sunday.